[marden]

Video appears to show brothers, 2 and 5, smoking pot

POSTED: 9:35 a.m. EST, March 4, 2007

Story Highlights
• Video shows teens persuading the boys, who are "falling around"
• Teenage uncle and his roommate are charged in the case
• Authorities found the video in a camera confiscated as stolen
• Police: Apparently not the first time the teens encouraged the kids to smoke pot

WATAUGA, Texas (CNN) -- Police in suburban Fort Worth, Texas, said a videotape found in a search for stolen goods appears to show two teenagers persuading a 2-year-old boy and his 5-year-old brother to smoke marijuana.

Third-degree felony charges have been filed against the teenagers.

"I have never seen anything like this quite so disturbing," said Bruce Ure, director of public safety for the Watauga Police Department. "Our children count on us to protect them; these individuals did everything but protect these children." (Watch kids puff on apparent joint as teens laugh Video)

The incident began unfolding February 22, when the Fort Worth Police Department executed a search warrant to look for stolen goods in the apartment of 17-year-old Demetris McCoy, the unemployed uncle of the two children, and 18-year-old Vanswan Polty, Ure said.

Among the items recovered was camera equipment, Ure said. Upon looking at one of the tapes, investigators came across "a session where these two males were providing marijuana" to the youngsters, he said. "They were essentially trying to get them high, laughing. The children are stumbling, falling around."

Ure said it appeared that the videotaped scene was not the boys' first such session.

The 2-year-old was holding what appeared to be a marijuana cigarette "like he's done it before," Ure said. "He's inhaling."

Video appears to�show brothers, 2 and 5,�smoking pot - CNN.com

This is an example of people who might think, "What's wrong with it? That's the way I was raised and I turned out alright."

And believe me, MOST people who were raised in anything but tragically or violently maladjusted and dysfunctional circumstances is likely to inflict that same unhealthy type of upbringing on their own offspring and think, "What's wrong with it? That's the way I was raised and I turned out alright."

[Peter]

whoa, messed up.
Is the video on youtube yet?

[design219]

Sad. Very sad.

[Chuckit]

I've seen much more disturbing things. A woman is raped every 6 minutes. I see stories on the news about homeless people beaten to death every few weeks. This is not a good thing, but in the grand scheme of things, some kid somewhere offering a recreational drug to a younger kid is not the sin to end all sins.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Terrible. Don't they know they are supposed to pass it to the left?

[rickey939]

I would think starting at 1 and 4 would have been better. Wait...

[itistoday]

That's pretty amusing. Must be a nice neighborhood for the director of public safety to say, "I have never seen anything like this quite so disturbing."

[marden]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

I've seen much more disturbing things. A woman is raped every 6 minutes. I see stories on the news about homeless people beaten to death every few weeks. This is not a good thing, but in the grand scheme of things, some kid somewhere offering a recreational drug to a younger kid is not the sin to end all sins.

Again, it's not an either/or kind of thing. Those things can ALL be bad at the same time rather than being on a linear scale where they must be ranked in terms of harmfulness. To assess the harm of this truly harmful deed we don't need to diminish the harm of any other hateful, evil or destructive thing.

[Chuckit]

That was mainly addressing the "I have never seen anything like this quite so disturbing" thing. Like, yeah, a kid stealing a CD from a store is bad, but I wouldn't say I've never seen anything so disturbing.

[marden]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

That was mainly addressing the "I have never seen anything like this quite so disturbing" thing. Like, yeah, a kid stealing a CD from a store is bad, but I wouldn't say I've never seen anything so disturbing.

Ahhh! Thanks for the clarification. I was mistaken in my assumption. My bad.