Remember that “balloon boy” hoax? Here are the facts you weren’t told…
Ah, 2009. So many fantastically bizarre things occurred, too many to count. One of the countless absurdities of ’09 was the Balloon Boy incident: An event that captured the public gaze for way longer than anyone should ever be interested in a giant Mylar balloon floating through a field.
Fortunately, there was at least a very suspenseful justification for the national interest.
The situation was reported to countless news stations as followed: A distressed man by the name of Richard Heene called a news station, then police, to report that his son had accidentally taken off in a home-made aircraft designed by the Mr. Heene as a neat family experiment (bizarre, but he’s a man of science).
There was a very dramatic chase, reported by plenty of stations. Mr. Heene ran across a field, desperately chasing the balloon in question. As it turned out, the boy was not inside the balloon. He was found later hiding in his family’s attic.
After a news report in which the 6-year-old Falcon Heene said “…We did it for the show…” on television after being asked why he hid in the attic, the entire thing was quickly labelled as a hoax. Comedy stations meme’d the whole thing to death, newscasters made awkward old-folk humor about it on their stuffy morning shows, the family received jail time for allegedly wasting 2 million USD in tax-payer dollars (I will point out the irony in this later) by requesting police assistance. Even Wikipedia describes the incident as a hoax with little discussion. To this day, Richard Heene, his native Japanese wife and his young sons all insist that it was not a hoax.
Sounds like a wrap, right?
Well, there is a little more going on in the background than we’ve been told.
For me, this adventure into journalistic intentions began with my stumbling upon the real detective’s footwork here: I’ve been avidly binging the videos of a Youtuber named “The Internet Historian”, a man on a quest to cover online and offline incidents that make a mark on the culture of the web as many know it. He’s a quick wit, a bit edgy on the humor but always entertaining as a main focus.
This “Internet Historian” has an alternative channel, though.
“IH”, as he’s sometimes called, runs another channel under the same name but detailed with an “Incognito Mode” label. This is where he dumps in-depth videos of topics he covered briefly on his main channel. I was lucky (and engrossed) enough to stumble down his lengthy upload on the Balloon Boy incident titled, “Balloon Boy | In Richard Heene’s Own Words”. I suggest you watch the half-hour segment, but for your pleasure I will be breaking down it’s most important aspects for you here. There’s a shorter, more humorous, segment on the issue on IH’s main channel.
The video is 90% the words of Richard Heene, the notorious father of Falcon Heene, our Ballon Boy of Legend and Myth that was meme’d out in ’09. I will be discussing details parroted by media and comparing them to the story Richard Heene presents in this video. The following video details paint an upsetting picture of manipulation by authorities and media to criminalize a family for ultimately making a really dumb mistake and wasting the time of some people overreacting because they presumed the kid could be dead.
I want to start by saying the following: I am not attempting to imply that the act itself was not intended to be a hoax. That is still up for debate. The importance is in the conduct taken by police and media outlets on this matter.
We’ll start with Richard Heene’s guilty plea.
A guilty plea is a done deal from an outsider’s perspective. It signifies an admission of wrongdoing.
In this case, there were multiple things going on for Richard Heene in the background. In this video he details a suggestion by his attorney to throw in the towel based on another case, the threat of his wife’s deportation and custody of his children being revoked, all in an effort to get a guilty plea, and specifically, a guilty plea.
Since my legal knowledge is limited, I was forced to look up the difference between a plea of “guilty” and “no contest” like some kind of normal person. As it turns out, the plea of “guilty” is very specific: It surrenders you to any punishment deemed fit, with no conversation about it thereafter. It specifies that you committed the crime, as opposed to a “no contest” which is not an admission of guilt or lackthereof.
The behavior of authorities really seemed to push for a guilty. I can’t speculate why, but it might have to do with all those floating eyeballs looking onward.
Speaking of the behavior of the authorities, let’s talk about that shit.
First of all, the Heene’s were taken in after relentless dogging from the media — 52 hours of it, specifically — and were working on very, very little sleep. Local authorities decided that giving a sleep deprived man a lie-detector test was a FABULOUS idea, despite conversations about exhaustion causing false positives on polygraphs. The conduct here alone is poor.
Wait, it gets worse!
Authorities then spoke to his wife Mayumi, whose English skills are obviously pretty bad. The questioned her in ways that require an advanced understanding of the English language, which she obviously did not have. They made promises to her under the pretense of more lenient punishment, which is apparently a no-no on the end of authorities. She recounted later that she didn’t even know what the word “hoax” meant, likening it to the word “exhibition”. She was not read her rights or offered a translator. In the words of our President, Donald Trump — “Bad!”
Lastly, they questioned the children without enlisting the permission of the parents beforehand. They had a specialist sit with the kids for hours, but the children gave contradictory information that went against what the authorities desired. This alone is a big ‘ol no-no on the end of cops.
Even the timeline of phone calls for assistance were fundamentally incorrect. The media parroted endlessly the words of an officer who was not even sure himself of the order of the phone calls. The order to the outside world was: news outlets, police department.
According to logs held by the Heenes, the calls are ordered as: Military air service, police, THEN stations in an effort to get a helicopter that could track the boy.
Even if this was a hoax, they were not asking for much and surely did not expect 2 milly in search puppers and copters. That level of force to be sent out was a decision on behalf of the state based on how serious they interpreted the situation to be, which was partially ramped up by media hysteria. Really was not much the Heenes could do there. Based on the severity of which they were treated, it seems that the local government was frustrated that they’d wasted tax payer moolah on a small-time hoax and desperately wanted to prove that they were in the right with a parade of force.
Then there is the boy’s admission of guilt, so claims the media. This is one I can spin as hard as the mainstream media spun it ’09. Young Falcon Heene claimed that “They told him to do it for the show…”. Hide in a box? For which show? What was the kid even thinking of? He claims later, as a 9 year old, that he was thinking of a discussion with a Chinese reporter about something else. His father even speculated he could’ve been thinking about earlier instances of Wifeswap, although this is as improvable as the Chinese reporter claim.
Claims from any side are mysterious for one main reason: The Heenes are honestly on TV a FUCKING lot. They’d been on the hit pile-of-garbage “Wifeswap” twice and both of the parents are actors. The kid could have been referring to any number of things they’d been working on at the time. The media and authorities worked hand in hand to mold this into an admission of guilt. Coupled with the parents’ frantic reactions, no doubt terrified of the context alone, things were destined to not look good. Nevertheless, it was never, ever properly explored and was treated as a valid admission of guilt. The situation went from being regarded as a silly accident to a full-on, purposeful hoax right after that interview.
It’s one thing for the media to believe this type of thing, it’s another thing for authorities to treat it as solid evidence. This is another example of police and media outlets inappropriately working together to make life harder for people doing dumb shit. Really, a fine and community service probably would have sufficied. No, Mr. Heene got about 60 days of jail time and fines. That’s MORE taxpayer money wasted to hold his ass, as opposed to ordering him to give back to his community. On top of it, the guy is now a convicted felon. Seems silly to me.
There is evidence provided by Heene and IH that imply that the entire thing was not a hoax, but an accident. I will not go there, as I am personally undecided on that topic. What I am decided on, however, is that the case of the Heenes, from evaluation to sentencing was not only an act of frustration from a local government but a total waste of taxpayer dollars, moreso than what had been wasted in the initial search (Irony alert!).
Whether it was a hoax or not, the local authorities heavily overreacted on the prosecution and sentencing of Richard Heene and his family, used illegal and dirty tactics to corner the family into a guilty plea and never bothered to get an objective view on the subject.
It is another story of police misconduct from an unlikely source.
