Unfortunately, we can almost certainly expect this poor woman to be subjected to a civil suit now. What do you want to bet this punk will demand millions for the pain and suffering from being pepper sprayed? Look for his attorney to scrounge up a trial Doctor who will testify that the teen suffers from permanent visual impairment and chronic eye pain.

Let's not forget that this guy was pepper sprayed for apparently no reason other than the woman was irate and didn't have patience to deal with someone asking her to move her car out of the way.

The kids with the snowballs should be charged, and the mother should have been found guilty for assaulting a school kid. I Betcha if 'she' was a 'he', he'd be in prison by now.

So, yes, Massachusetts justice has prevailed. You know, the liberal PC type of justice where being a woman is good enough reason to assualt a guy and get away with it. All she has to do is trot out the self-defence argument against a potential rapist and woman beater which as we all know, is all men are, even from school age.

Actually, the charge of carring a firearm without a license (the pepper spray) was dropped. She wasn't actually found guilty of that one. That would have been a slam dunk, since you need an FID to carry pepper spray in Massachusetts. (I know, I grew up there.)

Yes, all citizens should be permitted to neglect their automobiles in mid-road, run around wielding a bludgeoning weapon, then pepper-spray anyone who argues otherwise!

Seriously though, this kind of behavior is unacceptable and especially so since it was on school property. As a mature adult, a reasonable reaction would be to set a good example and handle the incident in a responsible and productive manner. The ability to do so is what differentiates civilization from barbarianism. Shouldn't we try to teach that concept to our children rather than glorify its breaches?

Barbarian cultures and countries are the very targets of war waged by the American empire. It is surprising that as a conservative you seem to glorify both. Perhaps it is the barbaric nature of war itself that you are attracted to? Perhaps we should focus more on the ideals on which it is waged (freedom, human rights, ...) and ensure that the promised results (due process, democracy, free trade economy ...) are actually acheived.

The Globe article is short on facts. Regardless, the jury felt a reasonable person in this woman's place would feel threatened by this kid, therefore, she had the right to self-defense.

Hey Charcold,

Given your moral superiority, why don't you enlighten us with what you would have done? You know in the spur of the moment like that. I mean, myself, I would have gotten out of the car as well and would have tried to get the punks throwing the snowballs. But I am a big guy and could easily scare off these delinquents.

Now the next confrontation ensues. This woman, already upset after being hit in the head with a snowball is confronted by another angry teen. They have their disagreement, then this kid sticks his head in her car window. Feeling threatened, I would have probably hit the kid, but once again, this woman may not have had the ability to do that. So she defends herself with another non-lethal means. Good for her, I say.

Charcold , do you enjoy making an ass of yourself . I can see you in this same situation losing your mind , how dare you throw snowballs at me , don't you know who I am? You probably would have called the policce press charges and sued. Then you'd have told you liberal blowhard freinds and sat around feeling good about yourselves.

I don't see where the Globe article says that pepper spray is a firearm. From the article, "A lesser charge of carrying a firearm -- pepper spray -- without proper registration was dropped."

It seems that the prosecution decided that pepper spray was not a firearm. A much more reasonable interpretation I believe.