Tulsa physician charged with assault on teens

[zstyles]

Tulsa County prosecutors filed nine criminal charges against a Tulsa surgeon who is accused of chasing down a carload of teenagers and bashing their vehicle with a baseball bat.

Dr. Richard Lee Cooper, 41, was charged with seven counts of assault and battery, one count of malicious injury to property and one count of assault in connection with the incident, which occurred April 26, 2008, in south Tulsa.

Cooper is accused of chasing down a group of teens who reportedly knocked on his door several times and then ran, police said.

According to the investigation, he blocked their Nissan Exterra and drove his vehicle into theirs. He then is accused of getting out of his car with a baseball bat and beating on their vehicle, breaking their windows.

[EricP]

Man, I'm glad I don't deliver pizza..

[TheArtist]

Should have shot them while they were still on his property.

[Ed W]

Sounds like the doc has anger management issues.  His argument that he acted in self defense by pursuing the teens is simply unbelievable.

[TUalum0982]

quote:Originally posted by Ed W

Sounds like the doc has anger management issues.  His argument that he acted in self defense by pursuing the teens is simply unbelievable.

I think we would all have anger management issues if this was a continuous problem and when you called the cops on 5 different occasions and the police said they were too busy to respond and it was a low priority.  It's unfortunate that a couple of punk *** teenagers will probably cost this DR his license and or jailtime.

[inteller]

i think we need more hooligans being put in their place like this.

[waterboy]

What...are you guys like 80 years old or something? He over reacted to some pranking punkass teenagers who had too much money and too much time on their hands.  

Cops don't generally have time to follow up every teenage prankster turning over trash cans and papering trees. You call their parents, you note their license plate, you take pics of them.  You don't chase them down and bash them with a baseball bat. His life and his family were not in jeopardy when two blocks a way he rammed them with his car. It could have been tragic.

[CoffeeBean]

Sure, he overreacted,  but he took out his frustration on the car, not people.  Pay for the property damage, case closed.

Emotional distress?  please.  He should counter for trespassing.

[TUalum0982]

quote:Originally posted by CoffeeBean

Sure, he overreacted,  but he took out his frustration on the car, not people.  Pay for the property damage, case closed.

Emotional distress?  please.  He should counter for trespassing.

Exactly.  Hopefully this dr's money and attorneys can get him outta this.  I generally don't think that way, but in this case, I will side with the dr.  Please let me be called to Jury Duty Tulsa County! I want to sit on this case!!

[waterboy]

I can't figure out the previous two responses. One makes a thin distinction between property damage and hostile assault with a deadly weapon. Very thin. If you were sitting in that car when this guy explodes in rage and swings a bat with little regard for your potential injury you would understand that it was plain assault with a deadly weapon. Doc is lucky one of them didn't have a conceal carry and blast his donkey.

The other thinks a Dr. who rammed a car and terrorized the occupants with a baseball bat should get more slack than a plumber, even volunteering to aid in jury nullification. All because they were teenagers punking him by pushing his doorbell repeatedly?

Get past the animosity for them and look at the justice. They were bored punk donkey teenagers, not gangster criminals. Could be your kids someday. I'm sure he'll get nothing more than anger management and repair of the vehicle which is fine with me. The teens should be admonished and maybe even face some civil action themselves.

Had this been a teenager swinging the bat on a doctors car it would be different.

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

I can't figure out the previous two responses. One makes a thin distinction between property damage and hostile assault with a deadly weapon. Very thin. If you were sitting in that car when this guy explodes in rage and swings a bat with little regard for your potential injury you would understand that it was plain assault with a deadly weapon. Doc is lucky one of them didn't have a conceal carry and blast his donkey.

The other thinks a Dr. who rammed a car and terrorized the occupants with a baseball bat should get more slack than a plumber, even volunteering to aid in jury nullification. All because they were teenagers punking him by pushing his doorbell repeatedly?

Get past the animosity for them and look at the justice. They were bored punk donkey teenagers, not gangster criminals. Could be your kids someday. I'm sure he'll get nothing more than anger management and repair of the vehicle which is fine with me. The teens should be admonished and maybe even face some civil action themselves.

Had this been a teenager swinging the bat on a doctors car it would be different.

Yes, the Dr. may have over-reacted.

However, WE were not there.  

What was his State of Mind after having to endure repeated door-knocking and door-bell ringing?  

He may have felt he was being prepped for a Home Invasion.

The teen-agers probably thought it was real cute to knock and repeatedly ring the door-bell and then run.

Bet they didn't find the Louisville Slugger coming at them through their car window quite as cute.

Bet with a little background investigation we can determine just WHO these children's parents are.

I suspect they are children of semi-somebodies; hence, their pressure to press charges for the emotional distress inflicted on their helpless little charges.

Teen-age hooligans.  WHAT else had they been doing that night?

In the spirit of compromise:

Drop the criminal charges, drop the civil suit and the civil counter-suits, and MOVE on.

End of Inning:  No runs, 1 hit, Many errors, and no one left on base.

[inteller]

the problem is today's youth get away with everything just short of murder.  If we have to be the ones to put them in their place because their parents didn't, so be it.

[CoffeeBean]

Water -

Just to be clear, I am not absolving the doctor, what he did was wrong and he should pay for the damage.  

Ironically, we both seem to arrive at the same conclusion, despite the disparity in our our "outrage."  

Bottom line - the kids need to learn something from this besides jackpot justice.  I don't see how handing them wads of cash helps anything.  Likewise, the doctor needs to understand that vigilante justice is not acceptable.  Get the plate, call the parents and let them know what's going on.  

This is a monumental waste of time and resources.

[Breadburner]

Good work Doc .....

[waterboy]

I agree with the bottom line. Drop all the lawsuits and criminal actions, but the doc fixes the damage and the kids do community service.

They are just kids and pushing doorbells and running off is not that great an offense. Even good kids get caught up in stuff and reasonable parents deal with each other rather than Louisville sluggers and the justice system.