PANAMA CITY — Like many (if not most) 12-year-olds, Logan Chason of Fountain did something stupid last year.
Logan had a bad day in November and took to Facebook to let off some steam. Nothing unique about that —except that what he said broke the law.
“I’m in a bad mood, so it’s gonna be my worst week, then watch out Merritt Brown Middle School I’m gonna come to school with a gun and start shooting,” he wrote.
Logan didn’t have guns or access to guns, and he didn’t actually want to shoot up his school, he said.
“It was just the first thing I thought of,” Logan said Tuesday morning after a hearing at the juvenile courthouse.
The post got the attention of some friends, who criticized him in comments to the post. It also got the attention of someone in Ohio, who found the post and reported Logan to local law enforcement.
After investigating, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office arrested Logan and charged him with written threats to kill or do bodily harm, a second-degree felony with the potential to ensure Logan would have no shortage of bad days ahead of him.
Logan took the initiative to write a letter of apology to Bay District Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt. That wasn’t enough to keep him from being kicked out of Merritt Brown for the rest of the year, but it earned him an ally in Husfelt, who said he must have threatened to kill his brothers a thousand times when he was 12.
“When I was growing up and you said something like that, people would just ignore it,” Husfelt said. “Somewhere, some point, we’ve got to get back an understanding that kids are going to say and do dumb things.”
Things have changed since Husfelt was a child. In an era when mass school shootings command the attention of the nation, even the empty threats of a 12-year-old simply cannot be ignored, but Husfelt also said he struggled to find a response proportional to the offense. Though he was kicked out of Merritt Brown, Logan was allowed to enroll at C.C. Washington Academy, where he makes As and Bs, he said.
What’s different: What separates Logan from other 12-year-olds who dabble in idiocy is that what Logan did was reported in print and television news and captured for posterity on the Internet.
The Sheriff’s Office issued a release to local media outlets noting that a student had threatened violence on the school campus so there would an increased BCSO presence at the school. BCSO released the information out of concern that parents with inaccurate or incomplete information might worry unnecessarily, especially since it was already on social media, BCSO spokeswoman Ruth Corley said.
Sometimes BCSO does identify juveniles accused of a crimes, but in Logan’s case he was not identified. That decision hinges on several factors, including the severity of the crime, said Maj. Tommy Ford, and the Sheriff’s Office is sensitive to the fact that identifying a juvenile crime suspect can have a negative impact, including the possibility that the accusations will live forever online.
“Certainly the decisions you make have consequences, and in the Internet age this is one of those,” Ford said. “But we are sensitive.”
Because he was charged with a felony, the Sheriff’s Office was legally required to release documents that did identify him to anyone, including reporters, who asked for them. Logan was identified in media reports that still show up in a Google search. Logan was threatened by classmates, he said, and his grandmother got grief from strangers.
“He’s going to have this for a while,” Husfelt said.
About Logan: Logan is being raised by grandparents; his parents are substance abusers who hurt Logan when he was a small child until they surrendered their parental rights, said his grandfather Roy Tipps.
Tipps agreed Logan needed to take responsibility for his Facebook post, but a felony charge seemed like a disproportionate response.
“If they charge him with a felony, they just ruined that kid’s life,” Tipps said Monday.
Logan doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life when he’s an adult. He enjoys writing, and he’s written a few horror stories; one of them is about a man’s descent into insanity during a period of prolonged isolation.
His family has a tradition of military service. Tipps was a hell-raiser in his youth, too, he said; it was his experience in the military that finally straightened him out.
“I have no idea” if he plans to serve in the military, Tipps said, “but I don’t want that option taken away from him.”
Tipps wanted a plea deal that would get Logan out from under the felony charge, but after going to court several times Tipps felt like he was getting nowhere. Logan’s public defender could not get the prosecutor to come down from the felony.
But on Tuesday he got some traction. Logan was offered a chance to plead to a misdemeanor count of assault on a school board employee and serve up to a year on probation. He would have to abide by a 6 p.m. curfew for 30 days, serve 50 hours of community service and satisfy some other conditions.
Logan took the deal. Judge Allen Register initially ordered him to write a letter of apology to Merritt Brown administrators, but when he learned Logan already had written such a letter to Husfelt, he instead ordered a letter to the BCSO. An emergency response to an event that turns out not to be an emergency puts first responders and citizens in danger, Register told Logan.
“Always remember that what you do doesn’t only affect you. ... Work to make sure that is a good effect,” Register said.
Logan said after the hearing that he was relieved to have the incident behind him, as far as that goes. He acknowledged his punishment could have been more severe, and said he’s taken a lesson.
“I have to watch what I do,” Logan said.
Husfelt said he hoped other students would take the same lesson.
“My hope and prayer is that kids learn from Logan’s mistake,” Husfelt said.