US teen faces charges after writing violent essay
An 18-year-old student at an Illinois high school faces disorderly conduct charges today for writing an essay that authorities described as violent and disturbing.
Allen Lee, a student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested after penning the in-class writing assignment on Monday.
"At the very last sentence, I said that this teacher's method of teaching could lead to a school shooting," Lee said yesterday.
He said he had intended the entire essay as a joke.
After reading the essay, his teacher alerted the school's principal, and district officials reported it to the police.
"The writing assignment depicted violence, was disturbing and inappropriate, but did not contain any specific locations or names," Cary police Chief Ron Delelio said.
Police have declined to release a copy of the essay.
Lee has been removed from the school and faces disciplinary action, school authorities said.
Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said an essay done for homework would ordinarily be "protected speech".
"He turned it in to a teacher. He didn't post it online," he said. "It's not a communication between him and the broader world."
