She Asked a Man to Drop Charges Against Her Son. Did She Act Like a Jerk?

I understand not wanting your kids to get into trouble, but sometimes tough love is necessary…

But this parent is going in the opposite direction in regard to her troubled son.

Take a look at this story from the “Am I the A**hole?” page and let us know if you think this kid deserves a break.

AITA for asking a man to drop charges against my son?

“My (42f) son is 16 years old, and about a year ago, he started hanging out with an unhealthy crowd. I have been giving him detentions of all kinds, but it only made him rebel against me, so I stopped and let him figure it out for himself.

A few weeks ago, the worst happened. I got a call from the police station that my son had participated in an attempted theft. As soon as I got the call, I told my husband, and we went to the police station.

They told us that my son and his friends tried to steal stuff from some man’s car and when the man came and saw them, he had a heart attack due to previous heart problems. His friends all ran away, but he stayed with the man, called the ambulance, and helped him take his chest pain medicine, luckily he is okay now.

When we got home, my husband was furious, and he kept yelling at him, but I tried to stay rational and asked my son to tell me everything. Then he broke crying and told me how I was right about his “friends” and how horrible they are.

He then said that his friends came to the idea to steal a wallet and a mobile phone they saw on the passenger seat in a car, he told them that it was a dumb idea and that they should drop it, but they didn’t listen. He then didn’t help them but didn’t stop them either.

He saw the man coming but didn’t tell them because he hoped for him to catch them in the act, but when the man came, he got so shocked that he started holding his chest and he fell on his knees. His friends then ran away, but he helped him.

Now, the man has returned from the hospital. Also, he will be pressing charges against all the boys, including my son. Don’t get me wrong, I know that my son did a bad thing, but I think it’s a little unfair to treat him the same as the other boys who ran away.

So I visited the man, and after a while of chatting, I asked him if he could drop the charges against my son because, after all, he was the one who helped him. The man then got furious and told me that I’m a bad mother and a horrible person for even asking such a thing of him.

After I got home, I told my husband about what happened, and he was also mad at me. He said that our son has to face the consequences of his actions, but I disagree because a criminal record of this nature will ruin his life.

So AITA?”