Why passing gas in school isn’t smart

Analyzing the arrest of a Florida student who broke wind in class

Maybe, just maybe, the time has come for schools to loosen up their zero-tolerance policies, said Rich Campbell in the Stuart (Fla.) News. Last month, a 13-year-old student at Spectrum Junior-Senior High School in Stuart, Fla., was arrested after he, according to the police report, “continually disrupted his classroom environment” by repeatedly breaking wind, on purpose. “Arrested. For passing gas.”

The kid confessed, said Frank Cerabino in The Palm Beach Post, but maybe he’s getting railroaded. “Prosecutors never explored the possibility of multiple perpetrators,” and instead solicited damning testimony from classmates who might actually have been “unindicted co-conspirators.”

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