A high school freshman in South Carolina wrote a story for a class assignment about his neighbor's pet dinosaur. Problem is, he also wrote that he killed that dinosaur using a gun, and teachers were so alarmed they called the cops, at which point the boy was arrested and suspended from school for three days, reports Fox News. Police maintain that they did not arrest 16-year-old Alex Stone until after they searched his bag and locker and the boy became "very irate" and disruptive to the school.
"I could understand if they made him re-write it because he did have 'gun' in it, but a pet dinosaur?" his mother, Karen Gray, told WCSC. "I mean first of all, we don't have dinosaurs anymore. Second of all, he's not even old enough to buy a gun." Gray adds that she's furious the school didn't call her before arresting her son, saying they reacted rashly to an innocent situation. But the police captain says the charges "do not stem from anything involving a dinosaur or writing assignment, but the student’s conduct." (Earlier in the month, a young man was arrested for acting like a ghost.)