Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
Ex-Cop Allegedly Grabbed 11-Year-Old By The Neck, Threatened To 'Put A Bullet In His Head' Over Ding-Dong Ditch Prank
Dean Taylor has been charged with false imprisonment, kidnapping, criminal threats and inflicting unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering on a child.
A former police officer has been accused of grabbing an 11-year-old by the neck, forcing him to the ground and threatening to shoot him in the head over a prank.
Dean Taylor, 63, had reportedly been pranked several times by a group of young boys in his neighborhood, according to a news release from the San Rafael Police Department. Coming to his house at night, the boys would allegedly ring his doorbell and run off before he could answer it, Taylor told police.
The evening of Feb. 12, Taylor was waiting for the pranksters, Lt. Dan Fink told the Marin Independent Journal. When his doorbell rang, he allegedly got in his car and chased the boys until he cut them off.
After they stopped running, Taylor allegedly exited his vehicle and began yelling at one of the kids, an 11-year-old. He allegedly took him by the neck and forced him to the ground, then pushed him into his car, the boy told police. He allegedly told the boy that he was taking him to his parents’ house and that if the boy ever pranked him again, he would “put a bullet in his head,” according to the police report.
Police responded to a call around 8:30 p.m. after a witness reported the incident. Two of the boys’ parents also contacted police, and the 11-year-old had redness around his neck when investigators examined him, according to the report.
When police questioned Taylor, he allegedly admitted to chasing the boys in his car, but denied threatening the 11-year-old or grabbing him by the neck.
“On the night in question, Mr. Taylor found himself at home recovering from a recent and very painful surgery, while he was subjected to yet another night of interrupted sleep due to teens pounding on his door as a form of prank,” Taylor’s attorney, Anthony Brass, said in an email to Oxygen.com.
Taylor had served as a San Francisco police officer and inspector for 34 years before his retirement, Brass said.
Taylor was arrested and charged with false imprisonment, kidnapping, criminal threats and inflicting unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering on a child, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was released on $100,000 bond.
The court ordered Taylor to surrender all firearms and approved a restraining order between him and his alleged victim, according to the Independent Journal.
