The Bicycle Thief

A New York town court justice has resigned in the face of allegations that he

publicly and physically confronted a fifteen-year-old boy who was riding his bicycle in [his] neighborhood, yelled profanities, took possession of and damaged the bicycle, and recommended to a local landlord that he evict a neighborhood family because of their relationship with the boy.

A stipulation reflects that the justice called the boy a number of names such as “damn thief,” a “troublemaker”, and two obscene names.

He then pushed the boy off the bike, put it in his car and heaved it into a front yard causing damage. 

He continued to use obscene language and “sat on the stone wall in his front yard with a baseball bat, repeatedly banged the bat into the ground, told used more obscene language. (Mike Frisch)