One may call it taunting in Taunton, whereby an 18-year-old suspended high school student, Kane Jefferson, allegedly threatened to bring an AR-15 to school to “shoot 100 bullets” and murder the two school resource officers (SROs) assigned to Taunton High School.
Having been suspended five times already did nothing to stop Jefferson from walking upon school property. He is notorious for racial slurs aimed at African-American students and teachers. He began bowing-up and “clenched his fists” when both SROs approached to ask him why he was on school grounds while under suspension. (Incredulously, reports that a school counselor invited him to school to discuss his GED plans has been floated and being looked-into by officials.) Young Jefferson also allegedly said “Heil Hitler” while gesturing the usual hateful stiff-armed-jut commonly associated with Nazism.
Jefferson was confronted by the school’s two SROs and resisted escort as well as a school policy-stipulated pat-down (for weapons). In the fracas while subduing and arresting a resistant Jefferson, one of the two SROs was bitten and both were kicked/elbowed by Jefferson.
Once in custody, Jefferson was charged with threatening to use a deadly weapon, uttering threats to murder police officers, making terrorist threats, disturbing a school assembly, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct.
Taunton police reportedly searched Jefferson’s person and backpack but did not find any weapons. Concerns of weapons increased after Jefferson barked that he owned an AR-15 and that he was coming back to shoot-up the school and murder both SROs with whom he resisted on campus grounds (literally).
Taunton Daily Gazette reporter Jordan Deschenes wrote, As Jefferson combated both SROs on the ground, he allegedly boasted “I’m going to f**king kill you motherf**kers! You both are going to die, you picked the wrong day to f**k with me…I’m going to come in here with my AR-15 and put 100 rounds into this f**king place. I will f**king start with you two motherf**kers!”
With added punctuation, Jefferson claimed he was going to “kill everyone in the school” when he was released from custody.
Adding to his self-induced legal woes, jailers included in their reports the following observations while Jefferson was in their custody: he was seen “repeatedly holding his hands over his head as if he were being held at gunpoint” after which he gestured pulling a firearm from his waistband and aiming his index finger at “whoever was in front of him.” In front of him would have been law enforcement officers.
Pursuant to arrest/booking and aligned under Constitutional due process applications, Jefferson went before a judge.
According to Taunton Daily Gazette staff reporter Charles Winokoor, “During Thursday’s Chapter 276 Section 85A Dangerousness hearing in Taunton District Court, Judge Michael Brennan —after hearing testimony from police resource Officer Jayson LaPlante— determined that Kane currently poses a potential threat of physical violence to others.”
With that, a copycat school mass killing is abated and a potential teen killer is remanded to county jail pending subsequent hearings while also maintaining the school’s sanctity.
But Jefferson’s court-appointed attorney, Brian Roman, argued differently, noting Jefferson does not own or possess any firearms, does not have a criminal history of actually physically assaulting anyone, and that he should be released to return to Hope Street where he resides with his mom.
Does that sound similar to what may have led to the blunders before the Parkland, Florida shooting spree by a crazed, expelled teen student?
In a view seemingly contrary to his request from the court while also broaching the mental health mire, Roman offered that his client “previously, as a child, had been institutionalized for post traumatic stress disorder, and that he also suffers from other behavioral and psychological problems including attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” wrote Mr. Winokoor.
Roman underscored that his client does not seek out confrontation but only “reacts badly” to being physically encountered. The Taunton SROs had a lawful right to confront Jefferson, so the Jefferson encounter spells the kind of trouble typically seen in folks who refuse authority, even when they are blatantly in the wrong. That also sounds like an argument for anyone who can not socialize well and thus must be heeded until resolutions are formed and concurred, hence being remanded under the Dangerousness code.
“Dangerousness” Statute
Interestingly, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a certain law on the books to address volatile behavior. Massachusetts Chapter 276 Section 58 Dangerousness stipulates the court may remand anyone who befits the statute’s language whereby a considerable threat accompanied by “clear, convincing evidence” to carry out said threats…warrants custodial authorities seize the individual(s) rendering such harmful claims.
The Dangerousness language is as follows: (1) The Commonwealth may move, based on dangerousness, for an order of pretrial detention or release on conditions for a felony offense that has as an element of the offense the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical force against the person of another or any other felony that, by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or another may result, including the crimes of burglary and arson whether or not a person has been placed at risk thereof…”
“The Massachusetts dangerousness statute defines certain crimes and criteria under which a defendant can be held without the possibility of being bailed out for one hundred and twenty days. That’s a full four months in jail before the Commonwealth even has to prove its case against you,” said attorney Edward R. Molari.
Regardless, Jefferson is remanded to lock-up. Taunton police have multiple reports naming Jefferson for hostile and erratic behavior, both at school and elsewhere. Officer LaPlante said Jefferson’s behaviors are indicative of someone who is “very, very desperate.” On that note, Judge Brennan agreed.
All due respect for Jefferson’s mom, her bias encouraged her to state that her son is “not dangerous.” The courts beg to differ, and I am sure both SROs do as well, at least.
What If?
What if Florida had such a “Dangerousness” law which could have prevented the Parkland, Florida school shooting on Valentine’s Day?
The effectiveness of a law like this is only as good as the practitioners paying attention to the signs…and reacting within the boundaries of the law promptly. Moreover, school, law enforcement and judicial authorities must be looped-in by students who often are the front-end pivotal parties in seeing something and saying something.
On the heels of the Parkland school shooting, the Florida legislature announced a bill which, among other tenets, engenders special channels for students to anonymously report any other student whose behavior mimics Jefferson’s or of similar concern.
The irony in this abated Taunton High School incident is that it transpired concurrent with school district Superintendent Julie Hackett holding a conference with several school district principals, solely discussing plans in the event of a Parkland, Florida-type active-shooter incident and adequate preparations.
Both school resource officers answered that query. Taunton police officers Jayson LaPlante and Alfred Borges were highly commended by school officials, city elected leaders, as well as US Congressman Joseph Kennedy III.
The Massachusetts Dangerousness statute applies to varied arrests, especially when evidence of predispositions exist…such as multiple DIUs, repeated domestic violence charges, and chronic assault/battery instances.
What if all states had a Dangerousness statute on the books instead of a revolving-door judicial system?
