Boys will be boys.

But, apparently, that may be costly. The family of a now 6-year-old boy who was charged with criminal mischief in June for allegedly denting the trunk of a moving car three months earlier is suing the driver, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and two deputies. The boy allegedly threw a rock or a palm tree kernel.

The family is asking for more than $15,000 in damages, the lawsuit, filed in federal court last week, states. “This is just something that’s just intolerable,” said the family’s attorney, Marcus Viles of Fort Myers. “I’m still scratching my head about all this.”

Sheriff Mike Scott was traveling out of state Tuesday and didn’t provide comment. According to the lawsuit, Karen Rogers was driving a 2008 Honda sedan on Ardore Lane in Estero around 4 p.m. March 19 when she drove past a group of children playing.

Rogers, 43, alleged that one of the children hit the trunk of her car with a “huge rock” that dented it. The lawsuit claims it “was later determined to be a kernel from a Formosan Date Palm tree” the children were throwing at a garbage can. The sheriff’s office report states that when Rogers drove by, the boys stopped throwing rocks. But she saw in her rear-view mirror one boy throw a rock, hitting her trunk.

The children’s mother, who is named “Sandra E.” in the lawsuit “due to fear of retaliation and the adverse impacts of any publicity on her minor child,” told Rogers she would discipline the children. Rogers then left.

On June 7, Rogers returned and demanded payment for damage. Sandra told Rogers she had questioned the children, who blamed the smallest child, who was 5 years old at the time, the lawsuit claims.

According to the lawsuit, Rogers said she wanted repairs paid and threatened the mother.

She said her fiance was a Lee deputy and Sandra had better pay “or else” the youngest child would be taken away to jail by her fiance. Viles said he doesn’t know who Rogers’ fiance is.

The damage estimate was about $500, plus rental car fees. It’s unclear if the woman has insurance or made a claim. A photo of the car shows a small crease on the trunk just under the back windshield.Around 9 p.m. that night, Deputy Christine Hall came to the house and demanded that the boy, referred to as “E.E.,” be awakened to be taken to the Lee County Jail on a charge of criminal mischief. According to a dispatch log accompanying the lawsuit, Sgt. James Creghan authorized Hall to go to the scene.

Hall and Rogers spoke with the boy’s parents and, according to the lawsuit, “demand(ed) a confession and an immediate agreement to pay damages to Karen Rogers in exchange for not handcuffing E.E. and hauling him away to jail.”

“Sandra E. refused to be blackmailed, and Christine Hall, acting by virtue of her office, arrested E.E., charging the 5-year-old with the specific intent crime of criminal mischief,” the lawsuit said. That charge is a first-degree misdemeanor.

The parents were given a notice for the boy to appear in juvenile court, but the state attorney’s office declined to prosecute.

The lawsuit claims deputies had no probable cause to arrest the boy because they had no evidence, no eyewitnesses and no proof that the dent was caused that day. According to the report, Hall cited Rogers’ statements and the car damage as probable cause to make the arrest.

Robert Shearman, who represents the sheriff’s office, Hall and Creghan, didn’t return a call seeking comment. Rogers, who doesn’t have an attorney listed in the case, also didn’t return a call Tuesday.

Viles said the matter should have been handled in civil court and deputies shouldn’t have been enlisted.

“They could have done it the easy way, but they did it the terrifying way,” he said. “That’s not the purpose of the sheriff’s office.”

WOW! This is just.. wow! What a waste of time.

I still can't believe they are pressing charges.

They are not pressing charges.

The family of the kid arrested is suing the police and driver.