Illegal explosives thrown from car had potential to kill

Bullshit. These are the same fireworks everybody goes to Ohio to buy and blow off at the lake or in their backyard. ELPD, DPPS, and the Ingham County Prosecutor should be ashamed of themselves for wasting our money on such a stupid case.

“The students are charged with placing explosives and causing property damage and possession of bombs with unlawful intent.”

“East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said no damage was caused by the blast.”

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Guess the Cops better get their stories straight before they go to court. If they are charging them with property damage the Chief should probably stop going around saying no damage was caused by the blast. Won’t look good in Court.

Typical over reaction and lack of common sense by the police and prosecutors. If one of them had done the exact same thing, it would be laughed off. Believe me Cops do similar type stuff all the time. Probably not the smartest thing for anyone to do, but not a 20 year felony either.

There is NO common sense today.

This is absolutely ridiculous, but it is unfortunately this is the exact method of operation of prosecutors in smaller cities. Overreact with ridiculous felony charges so that the defendants agree to a plea bargain that is what should have actually been the original charges.
Also, It sounds like an average mortar that you can buy IN MICHIGAN 5-10 miles away from the Ohio border. I know someone who was charged with a similar crime and they all walked away with misdemeanors that were expunged off their records by the time they turned 21.
I think the ELPD was just excited to dust off the bomb squad equipment. Watch out, don’t light any sparklers or throw any snap-n-pops on the group in the near future because the ELPD is keeping our streets safe from ruthless criminals.

this is a whole bunch of B.S. i personly live in okemos and that is right next to this area kids are never getting in trouble for the fireworks like in this case i have done this many of times and all the cops have done is taken the fireworks away from me and sent me home and that is it… I just thik that the cops where trying to get their monthly quotia in so they can get their paycheck.

Trevor,

Try using some punctuation. You sound like a raving lunatic in that post.

I think it’s hilarious this came up again. The author is just trying to cover her tracks for a horrible first story riddled with errors. Let it rest. Nobody’s interested anymore.

I am absolutely appalled. You can still be no-preference as a sophomore? Why the hell would you come to college if you had no idea what you wanted to do and still not know what you want to be when you grow up by your second year?

Oh yeah, and tossing mortars of any kind at a residence is stupid. Not felony stupid, but still stupid.

I have to agree with all the chatter about how this is BS. They are overreacting hugely, its the same reason east lansing has plenty of their own offenses marked higher, so they can “drop” them to the normal offense. Aka, Open intox in east lansing is a misdemenor, it is a civil infraciton everywhere else. So if you plead not guilty, they will make a deal with u and give you the normal offense. You can buy mortar fireworks anywhere, and I have seen a triple mortar blow up at someones foot, and all that happend was a few singed leg hairs. Kill somebody? Bull Sh*t. ELPD, how do you sleep at night?

This is yet another example of the ELPD coming down hard on students in order to secure an easy conviction. These kids obviously wont be doing any prison time; they’ll probably will just end up with a small fine and community service. This has been a recurring pattern in this area—between MSUPD and ELPD—where law enforcement overreacts in order to prove a point and scare students into compliance. Not that you can blame them at all because it has paid the bills for a while. Just look at the way they operate parking for instance. I’ve had more than one ticket for an expired meter when there was still plenty of time left. I really don’t have too much disrespect for the law enforcement here though, they do have to put up with way too many coddled, irresponsible pieces of trash that think they can participate in any kind of dipshittery they want and not have to deal with the consequences.

Just an FYI, you can technically be charged with creating property damage even if there was no substantial damage created. Simply charring the grass would suffice.

“You can buy mortar fireworks anywhere” I meant to say legally, and in many states. I know they are illegal in michigan. and that is why e.l said you had to have ‘ a license to own them’ making them sound much worse then they are

this is all foolish. The kids were stupid, but not felons. My guess is they plea out and get some civil infraction (misdemeanor at most) and do community service and MAYBE do a weekend in jail. If they get a prison sentence by some nut judge, the community will flip out and it will get appealed and likely overturned, which usually is not a good thing for a lowly EL judge lookin to move on to bigger/better.

quote: “not common firecrackers. They were commercially produced three-inch mortars that only are available to license holders, and had been modified to delay the explosion by about five seconds”

They weren’t just ordinary fireworks, and you can’t drive to OH or IN to buy them. My GUESS is they came from Discount Trees (owned by the Dudley family) – probably something used to blow up tree stumps in the ground – but the cops haven’t said HOW they got these explosives.

And come one people, do you honestly think they are going to get felonies? No, that’s just the INITIAL charge. stop freaking out about the fact that they are getting charged for doing something illegal. It is NOT a waste of our money to prosecute people who break the law.

Also, my punishment to them would be to make them volunteer or do community service in a veterans hospital, so they could see what life was like for people who lost limbs due to explosions. Because yes, these explosives could cause enough damage for amputation.

For the people on here talking about how the three girls from Okemos are spoiled pieces of trash, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Do you even know them at all? Or are you just judging from their mug shots in which Olivia is clearly crying and upset and the other two look like they’ve just been through Hell. I’ve known all three of them since middle school and none of them would physically harm anyone or cause anyone pain on purpose.

ELPD this punishment does not fit this crime. They were simply playing a joke on someone they knew and it got out of hand. And even though they should not have even been able to get a hold of explosive devices like the ones used, I’m sure none of them could have imagined the media and community uproar that would follow.

These kids’ reputations have been tarnished for possibly the rest of their lives and all we can worry about is what kind of punishment they’ll get? I have news for you ELPD, they’ve already been punished enough. They’ve been scapegoated by the community and this story has been spread as far as Detroit and other states along with their mug shots. The State News can do something to help… *stop printing news about this story!” Everyone on here should just mind their own business and stop passing judgments on something they know nothing about.

I don’t want to see these kids have their lives ruined, but I do hope the university finds a way to quietly send them packing. That’s in everyone’s best interest, I’d say.

These mortars seem to be available for purchase for the average consumer without a license @ fireworks.com.

Consumer fireworks are officially referred to as UNO 336, 1.4G fireworks by the U.S. Department of Transportation as set out in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations at Sub-Chapter C, Part 173, which, in addition to the definition, contains the standards for the construction and function of consumer fireworks.

Title 49 of the CFR specifically describes Division 1.4 explosives (consumer fireworks) as:

“explosives that present a minor explosion hazard. The explosive effects are largely confined to the package and no projection of fragments of appreciable size or range is to be expected. An external fire must not cause virtually instantaneous explosion of almost the entire contents of the package.”

Consumer fireworks were formerly referred to as Class C or common fireworks. All of your Phantom® fireworks products meet or exceed the standards established by the U.S. DOT and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for UN0 336 1.4G (Class C) consumer fireworks, as well as the additional voluntary standards of the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory (AFSL).

Now is not the time in our nations history for rational thought and forgiveness. The weak who make errors of judgement that in other times would have been considered a fine practical joke MUST be punished in accord with their acts. Now is the time for irrational striking out and Zero Tolerance for even the most benign acts of youthful acting out. I say they be stoned (with the heavy hard stuff not the noble plant) in the public arena. Anything less would be an affront to the new America. Lets also change the national anthem to reflect our true selves..drop ‘home of the brave’ and replace it with ‘home of the fearful ninnies’.

These vile and dangerous terrorists, should be locked up for at least 20 years. Fireworks on a lawn? M-80s? Cherry bombs? The stuff you played with as a kid in a normal America that is now gone forever? Lock ‘em up!

Don’t bother with the E. Lansing perp who beat someone to death last year. Don’t bother with the illegal alien (Mexican)who killed a Meridian Twp man about a month ago, whose photo was never shown and whose name was never given (so he could be insulted and held to ridicule like these girls). And especially don’t bother with any of the myriad “underprivileged” thugs who daily commit far more serious crimes than this misdemeanor. Way to go, EL cops. Pass the doughnuts, please.

EL cops coming down hard? Where is this kind of effort for the two guys (possibly 4 victims total) who were randomly, brutally assaulted two weeks ago that the cops still don’t have any leads on and won’t talk to the media about. Talk about trying to make up for poor job performance. Where is the follow through on serious offenses??

Disappointed: You’re talking about actual big boy police work, get real! They don’t do that in E.L. any more. Their job is to make sure the youngsters don’t get out of line. Anything other then that is beyond their powers.

ELPD has no problems firing tear gas bombs at students. Maybe they should be the ones under arrest.

If you are going to act in an immature way then have the common sense to have your car in proper working order and definitely do not get pulled over because of your lack of driving skills.

don’t worry the guys dad is a lawyer….daddy will get him out of trouble

My guess is the douche who keeps commenting about darby dudley got rejected back in high school.

These kids screwed up, but they are not felons or terrorist. jezus

“Power to kill?” You mean like the car they were driving, or even a gallon of gasoline from it? Homeland security funds provide ELPD with fancy equipment and ‘training’ but not much to do with it. I suggest if the bomb squad wants something useful to do, they should all volunteer for duty in Afganistan and get a better idea of what “power to kill” is all about. Laughable.

Too, the State News should be ashamed for publishing the pics of the kids involved. Sad.

Do you understand what Free Speech falls under? When you’re spreading your ignorant slander wherever you want, there will be a consequence. I personally think they should lock you up or at least keep you from procreating.

I have no affiliation with the Rosman family or ever knew the guy, but I still have some dignity and don’t hide behind anonymity on the internet to be a disrespectful and obscene dolt and claim it’s my god-given right.

Grow up.