Rambled Musings

For those that were following thw mom that was suing so the government would watch her kid here is an update. Originally, the father of the child that was attacked was arrested for picking up the 10 year old shooting pucks at his kid to stop him. The 10 year old has a history of causing trouble and the parents have a history of blaming anyone else.

Here's the latest.

AMHERST

Charges dismissed against father in hockey rink incident

By Katie Reedy - News Staff Reporter
Updated: 08/10/07 9:23 AM

Charges against the father who ignited a storm of controversy after a hockey rink fracas last April 13 in the Amherst Pepsi Center were officially dismissed Thursday in Amherst Town Court.

Charles M. Schmidl, 38, had faced charges of child endangerment and harassment because he yanked a 10-year-old boy from a center ice rink after, he said, the boy had been shooting pucks at him and his 5-year-old son.

Amherst Town Justice Mark G. Farrell broke with protocol, which called for a preliminary 15-day adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, or ACD, by dismissing all charges.

“I indicated that as far as I was concerned, this was a horrendous example of problem parenting — a horrendous waste of time for months,” Farrell said.

In July, Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark said that the mother of the 10-year-old, Charlene R. Van Dusen, 42, informed him that she wanted to drop all charges.

Schmidl’s attorney, James D. Hartt, has said previously that Schmidl had mixed feelings about the case not going to trial and that he preferred that the evidence be presented in a courtroom.

However, the lawyer called the decision a victory for Schmidl.

“Clearly,” he said, “the Van Dusen family has mud on their face . . . and they’re lucky it didn’t go to trial.”

Charlene Van Dusen was unavailable to comment. However, the boy’s father, Michael Van Dusen, 43, said he was disappointed that Schmidl had not faced a trial and that the charges were dropped.

“I think the whole thing was tried in the media regardless of fact,” he said. “It’s too bad that a guy can assault a kid and get away with it.”

Hartt said he asked Clark last week to approve a bypass of the 15-day ACD motion. He also said he assured Clark that Schmidl would not file charges of malicious prosecution or false arrest.

“I contacted Frank Clark, had a heart-to-heart with him. . . . He was concerned that my client might litigate, and I assured him that he wouldn’t,” Hartt said.

kreedy@buffnews.com