10-Year Old Arrested for Fighting With Sister

by Sandy Maple (Subscribe to Sandy Maple's posts) Jun 12th 2009 11:00AM

Categories: Siblings

Is sibling rivalry a crime? Image: sanja gjenero/sxc.hu

For the most part, growing up with a sister close to my own age meant always having a friend close by. She was someone I could play with, confide in, and side with against our older brother. But she was also a handy target when I was feeling mad, frustrated or just looking for a fight. When we weren't happily playing side by side, we were taping a line down the center of our shared bedroom and daring the other to cross it.

As with many sisters, ours was a love-hate relationship that occasionally boiled over into actual physical aggression. We never seriously injured one another, but we definitely had some hands-on disagreements that usually ended with one or both of us being punished.

So, what's an appropriate punishment for hitting your sister? How about being arrested and charged with assault? That's what happened to 10-year-old Reagan Greene after she and her 13-year-old sister Desiree got into it at a playground in Flower Mound, Texas.

It isn't clear what the sisters were fighting about, but they had already gotten over it and gone home when the arrest occurred. Apparently someone who witnessed the fight at the playground contacted the police, who determined that this was a case of family violence and that state law required them to take some type of action.

After examining the girls' injuries, police determined that Desiree seemed to have gotten the worst of it and took her little sister into custody. The girls' mother, Rhonda Greene, says she is now concerned about how the arrest may have "scarred" her 10-year-old.

Okay, so someone called the cops and the cops are required to investigate. I get that. But the requirement that they "take some type of action" sounds deliberately designed to give police some wiggle room when it comes to how they respond. Could they not have come up a more appropriate course of action that would put the fear into both girls and not result in one of them having a police record?

What do you think about this? Would you call the police if you saw two sisters fighting on a playground? And is it really the job of the police to punish siblings for fighting?

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Comments (11)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

stephendalton89 6-12-2009 @ 11:36AM

I think this is total bs. The girl is only 10 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!
I too understand why the witness called the police and told them to do something, but arresting a 10 yr old for fighting with her sister is absolutally ridiculous. I think the mother should have a say in what happens with the girl. Plus it was a private matter between the girls. Now that I think about it, I don't think the witness should've done anything. It wasn't his/her business. They should discuss what to do about it the next time they fight. Getting the police involved has its limits, and arresting a 10 year old girl is going to far. I don't know about the rest of you people but I think they should just let her go and help the family resolve the situation rather than take someone in an scare the crap out of them, either one of them for the most part.

Jen Simpson 6-14-2009 @ 3:40AM

I have to agree!! This is absolutely insane. I will tell you, I have a younger brother, we are 2 yrs. apart, and I was always alot bigger than him. Even though I am a female, I would never hit my brother back when we fought!! And believe me, we fought. Sibling rivalry, it's natural, happens to everyone if you have a brother/sister!! I believe the witness that called the police definitely jumped the gun here!! As for the police? I have never heard of such a thing. When you meet someone, (the parents when they went to the house) you can almost get a sense of what kind of family environment the children live in. Not that you'll know everything about that from just knocking on the door, but police are trained to sense good and bad, to the best of their ability! In this case, the took it way too far by arresting that poor 10-yr. little girl!! Someone said it right, there is definitely enough crime in the world today to keep them busy, Let the little girl Go!! That's the right thing to do!!

martza 6-12-2009 @ 1:02PM

yea. the cop went to far!! its not up to them to arest lil kids for fightitng..

ann 6-12-2009 @ 3:07PM

A family with girls who fight is what i'm looking for! i'm a producer at abc news working on a piece about sisters' relationships. i want to tape with a family with girls (ages 10-25) who can show us the good, the bad, & the ugly of being a sister.! If interested, please contact ann: ann.e.varney@abc.com

Kalyn 6-12-2009 @ 3:36PM

I hope the person that called the cops is reading this. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF. Do you have any siblings? Do you have any kids? Im guessing no to both, or you would be more understanding to the fact that kids, especially siblings, fight! Its natural, and you are responsible for a little girl being arrested. You should learn to mind your own business, and pick your battles. Save your tattle tailing for when its really necessary. What a shame that time is being wasted on nonsense when there are rapists and murderers wandering the streets!

damoki 6-13-2009 @ 3:35AM

Rapist and murders wandering the streets!??? This is how things get blown out of proportion: an over-emotional reaction to an over-reaction to a situation.

If, after being called, the police were required by law to evaluate and take specific actions, then they are not to blame. But, if the law allows them to release children at this age to their parents, then their place is at the front of the "Bone-heads apply here" line.

The person who called them seemed to jump the gun a bit, and may in fact regret that action, we will never know. But consider, if one child is hitting another with an iron pipe, or wielding a sharp stick or a knife... not one person would fault another for calling the cops. Besides, is not today's missing social link the involvement of others with... well, others?

Personally I would not call the cops in this situation, because discipline, and the application of consequences is the responsibility of the parents. I would have stepped in and stopped it, then contacted the parents, if possible.

The good news, young kids tend to recover from situations like this a lot better than adults. So all your adults, remember to play nice with each other.

DaMoKi

damoki 6-13-2009 @ 3:42AM

Tammy 6-13-2009 @ 1:13PM

If my younger brother and I had been arrested every time we had a fight one of us would have been arrested daily:) That's what siblings do, it's a part of growing up. The mother should have been allowed to take care of this at home, after the police left without arresting the 10 year old. Obviously the nosey tattler grew up an only child or they would never have called the police, the kids mom yes but not the police. The police deptartment in this town must not have anything to do if they are resorting to this to make arrest.

palexsr 6-14-2009 @ 11:13PM

Sibling Abuse is the number one form of domestic violence. Moms around the country will have Dads arrested for arguing, but will completley ignore their daughter's ongoing violence against their smaller sibling. Family-Court judges support this insanity with their "Hang-Daddy", Politically Correct judgements. Sibling Abuse is totally ignored by them as well as DYFS. As Family Court is a justice system redundancy, and needs to be eliminated, this child should not have been arrested. How ignorant to waste our tax dollars and police time this way. However, the issue of Sibling Domestic Violence needs to be confronted. It should also be realized that this was two girls involved, no boys that are stereo-typed for domestic-violence.

Bye

Ami 7-13-2009 @ 10:46AM

So it's the job of the police now to raise our children? If I was that mom, I would be at least 50x more pissed than she is. I call racial profiling on this case, especially seeing as it happened in Texas. I remember when I was ten I threw a water balloon out of my bedroom window one night and hit a car and a police officer caught me. Wanna know what he did? He told me he was a police officer and that he could get me in big trouble with my parents so I had better close the window and go to bed or else. Wanna know how effective the warning was? 150% effective! I didn't fuck around with water balloons and cars after that. No effing way! I was scared shitless, and nothing even happened. He didn't tell my mom, just gave me a warning.

ashby moncure m.d. 6-15-2009 @ 8:34AM

Only in texas. Maybe Christopher Beize, a police officer known for using a taser on a 72 year old woman, was in on it. How disgraceful. The police are no longer protecting public safety. What should we teach our children? Should we say that the police are the enemy?

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