DOCUMENT: K-12, Stupid

Teen Calls 911 After Dad Takes Her Phone Away

Ohio father took girl's device "as punishment"

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Phone Seizure

JANUARY 15--An Ohio teenager called 911 Saturday to accuse her father of theft after he took away her cell phone as a disciplinary measure, cops report.

After the 16-year-old girl dialed 911 to report that, “My father took property, which is an $800 phone, that does not belong to him,” police were dispatched to her family’s residence in South Euclid, a Cleveland suburb.

“I just want him to return my phone and I could leave and go to my grandmother’s,” the girl told a police dispatcher, according to a recording of the call.

When cops arrived at the home, the teenager, named Malikah, explained that her father had confiscated her phone, which the child considered an act worthy of law enforcement intervention.

Malikah’s 37-year-old father explained to police that he seized the phone “as punishment,” according to a South Euclid Police Department report.

While Malikah may have wanted her phone promptly returned, officers advised the juvenile that possession of the device was a privilege--and not a property rights issue.

Police departed the property after concluding that there was “no active arguement or issue in home.”  (1 page)