UPDATE: 16 year old vs. Trooper
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We spoke with Sumner County General Sessions Court to follow up on how 16 year old Cody Richardson’s court case went on the “wreckless driving” citation we reported about last week. Messed Up was told this was a juvenile case and no information would be released unless we spoke directly with the family.
So we did.
Rhonda Richardson is Cody’s mother, and this is what she said happened.
“It was in General Sessions Court. We went. We waited our turn. The court went through everyone. We told the judge who we are. ‘You are not on our docket,’ they said. So they sent us to another room and we spoke to a woman who said ‘he was on the docket, but now he is off. The trooper called here last week and realized the boy was 16 and was in this court. The trooper said he called you all to tell you this, that it had been rescheduled.’”
Rhonda tells MessedUp that the Trooper had not called them as he claimed to the court and added: “We took off work, we took 2 of our 3 kids out of school. I took off whole day off. I took cody out of school and emily, who is 14, she is witness, we took them with us. They said this is the wrong court.”
Rhonda also says she asked the court what happens next and was told the Trooper has to start all over. That means the trooper has to refile the case, and the clerk says this has yet to be filed. It would have to be done from scratch thru juvenile. If he doesn’t refile, it goes away. If he does, then it is set.
When the mother asked how the family would know she was told to call the Trooper, and that’s something the mother said the family cannot do.
Messed Up took this to Department of Safety Spokesperson Mike Browning who told us the ball is in the Trooper’s court. ”Sgt. Curry is currently on approved leave and is scheduled to return to work on Friday, August 15. It is up to his discretion whether he intends to file the charge in juvenile court in the future.”
This is absolutely amazing. I find it shocking that this is being allowed. If I were the family, I would pull the phone records and see if the Trooper did make a call. If he did not, I would file a formal complaint. He made the decision to open this can of worms and for him to call it off and not show the courtesy to inform the family of change is not responsible. I would look and see and if he did not call you, see if you cannot seek civil charges to re-coup lost wages.