Schools officials in Houston called the police because a child was trying to buy her lunch with a $2 bill.
Eighth grader Danesiah Neal was just trying to pay for her chicken nuggets when the school officials told her the $2 bill was fake:
“I went to the lunch line, and they said my $2 bill was fake. They gave it to the police. Then they sent me to the police office. A police officer said I could be in big trouble.”
The police grilled the child’s grandmother, Sharon Kay Joseph, when they were trying to find where the bill came from. The crack team of police officers went to the convenience store where the child received the bill as change.
They took it to a local bank and had them check it. They brought it back, but they treated the child horribly. Joseph said:
“He brought me my $2 bill back He didn’t apologize. He should have, and the school should have because they pulled Danesiah out of lunch, and she didn’t eat lunch that day because they took her money.”
Charges were not filed, but the grandmother was very upset. She said children are being “charged like adults,” and it’s not fair.
Because the bill was made in 1953, the school’s counterfeit pen didn’t work on it. People on Twitter are calling for the police to apologize to her.
@superdupre When will you apologize to Danesiah Neal for publicly humiliating her? And having the cops harass her? I would sue. #lawyerup
— The Crude Dude (@CrudeDude69) May 4, 2016
Danesiah Neal tried to spend a 2 Dollar Bill at lunch at Christa McAuliffe Middle School, and was detained and threatened with a felony!
— Steve Nickell (@steve_nickell) May 3, 2016
The $2 bill is fairly rare, but it IS still in circulation. Reduction of printing started in the 50s. The bill has become very rare, so someone who had not seen one before may think it’s counterfeit. Today, the $2 bill accounts for one percent of the bills in circulation. However, it may be coming back. There were 61 million of them printed in 2005.
The police should not have embarrassed this poor child. They should AT LEAST apologize to the girl and her grandmother.
Featured image by William Warby via Flickr, available under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
