Police: Mauldin High Student Suspended for Using Gang Sign

Lesson: When confronted by police, don't use a gang sign, not even as a joke. Police don't find it funny.

A 16-year-old male student at Mauldin High School learned that lesson the hard way last week when he was suspended following a disturbance in the school's auditorium, a Mauldin Police report said.

Police were dispatched to the school last Friday in reference to the disturbance, in which several students were standing and yelling at each other in the auditorium. 

As one officer tried to deescalate the situation from turning into a melee, the officer observed a student yelling at a teacher. The student then was spotted using his hands to make a gang sign associated with the "Bloods" toward the crowd of students, the report said.

"I then walked over and asked if he thought that was funny and he advised with a smile that he didn't do anything," the officer stated in the report. 

"I then explained that I saw him (throw) up a gang sign and he explained that he just (threw) up his hands and started laughing. I then stated again, 'You think this is funny?' and sarcastically he said, 'Yep!' I then stated that I would [knock] that smile off his face because this is not a joking matter. Still laughing, I escorted him to the front office….," the officer stated in the report.

The officer didn't file a charge against the student, but the student was instead suspended from the school, the report said.