
There is a fine line between taking something from someone and stealing, right? But how do we exactly define and justify that fine line? In other words, is it OK for someone to use a school’s electricity to recharge his electric car? Is five cents and two to three miles worth it, when you have been warned and told never to come back? Is it any wonder the local Georgian police treated this instance as a crime?
Obviously, we can see the situation from many angles but the best one to start with is the bird’s eye view. Why would someone drive and use electricity somewhere other than home or a designated charging area, without asking? This type of action is systemic of our society that feels less and less boundaries and walks over without batting a lash, at times on private properties.
A Public School on Private Grounds.
Last we checked, school grounds are highly regulated. You might consider this “public,” bit one thing is clear: it is not always open to the public, that area with registration. Even though the electric vehicle driver, EV said no one was there, does it make it alright to start plugging in at a school or on a private land?
Much as we are pointing to, the culprit is the individuals who feels it is OK for him to tap into what you and I, including him pay for, at a public entity, such as a school. Still, no matter how public a school is, it is on highly regulated private grounds and gives no one the right to tap into what we all pay for collectively. Should that person proceed to refund us the 0.000001 cent he stole from his local community?
Great take on this, Nicolas. I’m not sure about that last question, though. According to my calculations, using the guy’s estimate of how much time he’d been plugged in (which, by all accounts, is probably a lie like the rest of his story seems to have been), he cost the school at least five cents, probably closer to eight or ten cents. The reality is, he could have been plugged in for hours for all we know.
http://www.torquenews.com/1080/theft-electrons-nissan-leaf-owner-jailed-sergeant-ford-plugging-his-car
It should considered as theft since he didn’t have permission. I nearly got arrested in Jacksonville, FLA. in 1976 for draining gas from the hoses at closed gas stations. Was 2am, found all were closed and I was nearly out of gas riding my motorcycle from Chicago to Daytona’s Speed Week. The police informed me that I could be arrested for theft then one pulled out a credit card and ran it thru to activate the pump. Tanked up and reimbursed the cop for the purchase. Perhaps the court could dun the man for court costs and levy a fine payable to the school?
Going by the police report, it appears tht this guy’s main issue was that he was trespassing. He had been asked not to go on the school’s property without permission and was violating that. The school decided not to press trespass charges, but they are pursuing the theft, which would be only a minor misdemeanor. The guy’s story to the news is almost exactly opposite of the story given by the cop and school.
It’s definitely gray waters, but the point is still that regardless how public a place is, it is still off limit. I find it strange people not only think it is OK to take from a public place, and in this case, justifying even though he had been not to come back.
We live in an entitlement society. Force people to do things and eventually they begin to feel entitled to the benefits of those things, even if that’s not how it’s supposed to work.
Absolutely, and it’s that: “Oh, I’ll say sorry and get off with a slap on the wrist attitude that is becoming too much and goes against the sand of society.