Grown Man Calls Police on Six-Year-Old Child After Sister-in-Law Steals Nintendo Switch

There are some situations where nobody is in the right. Everybody just sucks, and the entire event context is just kind of miserable. It appears we have the perfect example of that scenario right here on Reddit.

The story goes, a father (/u/Flimsy_Wish_7885) throws a Fourth of July cookout for his entire family. Everything seems to go swimmingly, except for the fact that the man's 13-year-old daughter can't seem to find her Nintendo Switch after everyone departs. Doing what we all would when an expensive device goes missing, the man asks around in his family to see if he can locate it. He soon finds out that the device is now in the hands of his wife's sister's six-year-old son. He and his sister-in-law exchange some choice words, she refuses to return the stolen Switch, one thing leads to another, and the father calls the police to confront the six-year-old thief. The good news, the dad gets his daughter's device back. The bad news is, law enforcement traumatized the kindergartener by threatening him with jail time. 

So what do we make of this? Well, the young boy shouldn't have taken the Switch, but he probably didn't grasp the gravity of the situation and the fault falls more on his seedy mother. The Switch belonged to the man, but he probably could have handled the dilemma without asking police to accost a child But maybe that's just my read on it. Here's how Redditors are reacting. 

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  • 01
    Font - AITA for frightening my nephew and making him traumatized for life? Not the A-hole I had a cookout at my place on the 4th. My daughter's (13) switch goes missing. I contacted family members and my wife's sister (Kara) said my daughter gave it as a gift to her son Stevie (6) for his upcoming birthday. I ask my daughter and she said it wasn't true she let Stevie use it so they could all play Mario Cart together and it went missing after the cookout. My daughter is upset and I call Kara back
    via www.reddit.com/user/Flimsy_Wish_7885
  • 02
    Font - After this I contacted my uncle who is a police officer and he watches Kara's house and a few of his friends go over and threaten to arrest Steve and Kara over stolen property. Kara reluctantly gives it back after an incident with the officer that she could have been arrested for. The warned Stevie next time steals both him and his mom will go to jail. They let my SIL go without incident. SIL says Stevie has been crying non stop and having issues sleeping because he doesn't want to go to
    via www.reddit.com
  • 03
    Font - MonkeyPawWishes 21h Asshole Aficionado [11] ● Your sister-in-law got caught stealing and is trying to deflect by telling you her son is traumatized. She thought you would just back down and let her steal from your daughter. NTA. ... 23.4k allthecactifindahome 20h Colo-rectal Surgeon [46] So you think the six year old is secretly doing just fine after an honest to god police officer came to his house and told him that he was going to take him and his mom to jail?
    via www.reddit.com/user/MonkeyPawWishes, www.reddit.com/user/allthecactifindahome
  • 04
    Font - FarBend6235 · 21h ● Partassipant [4] NTA. Stevie has bigger problems, like having a mother who likes to steal.
    via www.reddit.com/user/FarBend6235
  • 05
    Font - crystalzelda 19h Certified Proctologist [22] 1 Award Completely agreed. His mom is something else. I think people are glossing over that apparently there was an "incident" that Kara instigated with the officer that she could have gotten arrested for? Listen. Sending the cops after a 6 year old is nuts, but that's literally ALL Kara's fault. She refused to return it and instead insulted OP's kid. If OP had tried to retrieve it himself HE could have been arrested for trespassing or assault
    via www.reddit.com/user/crystalzelda
  • 06
    Font - Sorry_l_Guess • 20h Asshole Aficionado [16] 2 Awards ESH for all the reasons given elsewhere. But also because (and I'm so horrified that not a single other commenter has pointed this out) your sister is racist AF. "Indian giver" is not a thing. It's a disgusting, racist slur that implies that being a cheat is somehow a Native thing. Your sister is an ignorant racist who encourages her 6-year-old to steal and lies to defend it, and you're a bully who literally used to cops to terrify a sm
    via www.reddit.com/user/Sorry_I_Guess
  • 07
    Font - JackiesFetus • 19h 1 Award You must have missed the part where OP tryouts to handle it just between adults but the adult thief doubled down so he had to go beyond that and get the uncle cop to put on his little show. I don't understand how OP sucks when he's trying to get his kids stolen stuff back.
    via www.reddit.com/user/JackiesFetus
  • 08
    Font - jimmytaco6 21h Asshole Enthusiast [6] ● Uhh, ESH. Fuck your SIL but a grown man threatened a six-year-old with jail? Are you kidding me? 42.3k dryadduinath 20h this whole family sounds unhinged. esh
    via www.reddit.com/user/jimmytaco6, www.reddit.com/user/dryadduinath
  • 09
    Font - Thermicthermos • 20h Partassipant [1] NTA. If Kate didn't want her kid to be traumatized she shouldn't have abetted her son's theft. ... 1.3k Some_Range_9037 - 19h Partassipant [2] Absolutely this! If Stevie told her it was a gift, her response should have been to verify this and thank the giver. Of course this didn't happen because Mommy was covering his little butt when she received the phone call. The fact that she doubled down left OP with few options. Perhaps the cop laid it on thick
    via www.reddit.com/user/Thermicthermos, www.reddit.com/user/Some_Range_9037
  • 10
    Font - • 21h Asshole Aficionado [12] MichelewithoneL ESH (except your daughter). Obviously, the switch was stolen and your sister wasn't going to do anything about it so you needed to figure out an alternative. However, your uncle went way overboard by sending someone out there to threaten arrest. Why didn't HE go over there and explain to Kara that stealing is illegal and he needs the switch back? Why were third-party cops sent to the scene? Why didn't you go over there and ask for it back? Why
    via www.reddit.com/user/MichelewithoneL
  • 11
    Font - Dora_Diver. 20h Why are several cops jumping on the opportunity to bully someone? Why do they have the time for something so trivial? Why do cops think it's rules and laws for the others and whatever they want for them? ESH
    via www.reddit.com/user/Dora_Diver
  • 12
    Font - RaineMist 21h Certified Proctologist [21] ESH Your SIL sucks for lying about the switch You suck because you had your uncle threaten to take a 6 year old to jail. Hopefully your daughter and nephew realize how stupid both you and SIL were and be better than that.
    via www.reddit.com/user/RaineMist
  • 13
    Font - Bitter_Position_7040 - 20h Partassipant [1] This right here. Let's agree a 6 year old shouldn't steal. Stevie is an AH, but not a major one. He's 6. His failures at this age are mostly due to poor parenting. He gets away with what SIL allows him to get away with. SIL is huge AH. Liar and awful parent. OP is an AH because the person that needed the hard lesson was the SIL. Calling police on her was appropriate, but excessive for the 6 year old.
    via www.reddit.com/user/Bitter_Position_7040
  • 14
    Font - Thediciplematt. 21h Commander in Cheeks [265] ΝΤΑ The kid lied and this parent has to be insane to think this 6 year old is telling the truth... ... totallynotarobut • 20h Asshole Enthusiast [5] I don't think the kid lied. I think Kara lied. 367
    via www.reddit.com/user/Thediciplematt, www.reddit.com/user/totallynotarobut
  • 15
    Eye - pamplemouss • 20h A 6yr old should not be threatened with jail for lying, ffs. ESH among the adults.
    via www.reddit.com/user/pamplempouss
  • 16
    Font - the_owl_syndicate • 21h Asshole Aficionado [12] ESH Holy overreaction, Batman. Another reason not to trust cops, if they are willing to bully people like this. 269 allthecactifindahome 20h Colo-rectal Surgeon [46] Imagine being like "Hell yeah, of course I will go threaten a six year old with imprisonment over a toy, that sounds very cool and very normal." ●
    via www.reddit.com/user/the_owl_Syndicate, www.reddit.com/user/allthecactifindahome
  • 17
    Font - scificionado Partassipant [3] • 20h I'm leaning towards NTA because maybe this scare will keep little Stevie from ending up in prison when he gets older. His Mom obviously hasn't taught him that stealing is bad. This intervention may save him. 264 Prudent_Plan_6451 - 20h ... He's 6. He's just scared. No lesson learned other than to fear those in power.
    via www.reddit.com/user/scificionado, www.reddit.com/user/Prudent_Plan_6451
  • 18
    Font - 34624572571 • 20h NTA. Steal Switch? Straight to jail! ... 214 Standard-Park. 20h Asshole Aficionado [14] We have a special jail, just for switch stealers.
    via www.reddit.com/user/34624572571, www.reddit.com/user/Standard_Park
  • 19
    Font - Impression Ok1458 • 20h ESH. Officers threatening a six year old with jail time is insane. The mom sucks, but so do the cops for that. It should have been a stern conversation about right and wrong, not threatening a kid with jail time. He's not a hardened criminal.
    via www.reddit.com/user/ImpressionOk1458
  • 20
    Font - S70RM7ROOPER_30 • 20h That mother of Stevie's, she'll tolerate all lengths for her son even if its wrong. It starts with a switch, later who knows what he could steal. NTA, although your uncle could've dealt this in a calmer manner, Kara on the other hand is a massive AH.
    via www.reddit.com/user/S7ORM7ROOPER_30
  • 21
    Mammal - shinyagamik. 20h Partassipant [2] NTA. Kara used her son to cover up her own intentional theft and is using him again to try and twist things.
    via www.reddit.com/user/shinyagamik
  • 22
    Font - Little-Helicopter-69 - 20h Partassipant [2] ESH, you all handled this incredibly poorly, you could a have just told SIL that she had to return it, pay for it or you'd get police involved as it wasn't given as a gift, which probably would have been enough without actually getting police involved. But she should have also dealt with her child better once it was clear it hadn't been freely given.
    via www.reddit.com/user/Little-Helicopter-69
  • 23
    Font - Ashley Poppins. 20h Good lord. Y'all need help. The kid who "stole" it is six and probably got confused (or hell maybe he just wanted it). Maybe your daughter did say eh could have it and than had second thoughts. Who knows and who cares. Sister should have immediately apologized and gave it back. She certainly shouldn't be using racist terms like Indian giver. Jesus. You escalated things way too far way too fast. ESH except the kids.
    via www.reddit.com/user/AshleyPoppins
  • 24
    Font - Agreeable_You_3295 - 20h NTA. SiL traumatized her own kid by allowing him to steal. I feel bad for Stevie, but your SiL is a terrible mom. If he's traumatized for life, it's solely her fault. And there's a big difference between "calling the cops" and calling your uncle, who is a cop.
    via www.reddit.com/user/Agreeable_You_3295
  • 25
    Font - Rewandsgirl. 20h NTA, you might be doing a service since the mother is teaching the son that lying to steal something which isn't his is ok. And stealing from a 14 year old who is also a kid at that too. Kara need to remember if she doesn't teach her son what is right, other people or jail will teach her son. 445 +
    via www.reddit.com/user/Rewandsgirl
  • 26
    Font - DracoCustos • 20h ESH holy shit?? Your SIL has no right to say your daughter is too old for her switch, you overreacted like crazy by sending the literal police to terrorize a six year old, and your uncle needs to lose his badge like yesterday for terrorizing a six year old.
    via www.reddit.com/user/DracoCustos

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