Hello.
Hi.
It's lovely to meet you.
I'm Jamali.
Samantha.
Nice to meet you, Samantha.
How you doing?
I'm all right.
Thank you for letting me come today.
You're welcome.
Appreciate it.
So, how many kids you got?
Just one.
Oh, just the one?
Yep.
Yeah.
You all right?
Yeah.
You got long hair.
Thanks.
How you doing in school?
Good.
Yeah.
Do you like school?
No.
But what's your favorite lesson, though?
Uh, going home.
Going home.
So, you're putting him in the S.T.O.R.M. program?
Yes.
How come?
Um...
There was a situation at school
where he was pushing kids up against the locker for their money.
Yeah.
And he's going down the wrong path.
Have you gone down the wrong path, little man?
No.
No?
No.
How do you think Shawn feels about going to the program?
He doesn't like it.
You don't like the idea of it?
No?
You gonna show me some BMXing?
No, I'm good.
You sure?
Yes.
Shawn, come on.
I've come all the way from England
to see you ride a dirt bike.
You going to make me waste my ticket?
Yeah.
Wow.
You cold-blooded, Shawn.
You hurt my feelings, man.
Y'all ready to go to the river now?
That's -- Is that -- Is that why you've been sulking,
'cause you just want to go to the river, innit it?
Yeah.
Come.
Let's go to the river, then.
Come.
Come here.
You're a good swimmer, yeah?
Yeah.
I don't have to jump in and save you, man?
I might have to jump in?
I'm not getting in there.
Oh.
That was a big one, boy.
The reason why I come to the river,
'cause I have fun, and I have something to do.
Yeah.
At home, there's nothing to do.
Yeah.
You think you get in trouble at school
'cause you're bored?
Pretty much.
Yeah?
Do you talk to your dad a lot?
My dad?
Yeah.
He died.
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
Hey, Shawn, why is your mom sending you?
My mom thinks I'm bad.
Your mom said it was 'cause you were robbing kids in school.
No, it was a prank.
See, we was just playing around.
Yeah?
Did he know that you were playing around?
I did it to him before.
He ain't do nothing but laugh.
Come.
You ready?
Let's roll, man.
Lovely to meet you.
Thank you for letting me come.
You're welcome.
How are you?
I'm fine.
My name is Jamali.
How come you're putting him into the S.T.O.R.M. program?
He has a problem with authority.
He has a bad attitude.
He doesn't like to be told what to do.
He has a real issue of defiance.
Do you feel that he would --
Like, if he carries on, he's gonna go to jail?
Yes.
You do?
I do, or end up 6 feet under.
Why do you act up?
Uh, try to fit in in school, stuff like that, you know?
Yeah.
Peer pressure, a lot.
Why is your mom putting you in the S.T.O.R.M. program?
Like, in the beginning of May, two people,
they had jumped this kid in the bathroom.
And I was there, so I guess I was guilty by association.
So now we're going through a whole bunch of stuff.
Yeah, and what charge are you looking?
Uh, I got two felonies
and a misdemeanor, but it's not --
It's pending.
It's not charged yet.
How do you feel about it?
Uh, sucks a lot.
Do you think it could ruin your life?
The two felonies can.
Yeah.
That's a lot of pressure, though.
Yeah.
'Cause you young as hell, man.
Yeah.
You talk to your old man?
Not a lot.
No?
Unh-unh.
How come?
I don't know.
He just doesn't call.
Yeah?
So, can you tell me about Johnell?
He's high-functioning autistic with Asperger's.
And they really don't have a lot of programs here for him.
For a while, we had to keep going back and forth
to the doctor, therapies
and medications and so forth, so on.
In what ways does he act out?
Being physically aggressive.
Being violent towards your parent,
towards other children, towards anybody.
Oh, or a woman, period.
Someone period, yeah.
Doesn't matter whether it's a woman, you know,
or a male, just being violent period
can cause you to be in prison.
I mean, there are times when he just get upset,
and he jumps out of the car, you know,
and run off from her.
I'm scared that somebody could just walk up to him...
Snatch him up.
...and then he becomes aggressive, and they hurt him.
-Yeah.
-That's my worst fear
in the entire world.
Do you think the S.T.O.R.M. program
is going to be beneficial
for his particular --
Perfectly.
I think so.
I'm hoping that it is...
Yeah?
..and that it will,
because we talked to the lieutenant.
Mm-hmm.
And we said earlier.
He said that they have children there
that's like my son,
and that it has been a big turnaround.
Our therapist, who is the one who told us --
Yeah.
She said only 1...
10 that she knew.
...out of the 10 that she knew
that had a great turnaround.
Right.
So I'm, you know --
Because he's so intelligent,
I think he'll get a lot out of it.
I just want him to be able to function in society
like any other normal child.
I like car chase scenes.
You like car chase scenes?
Do you like "Fast & Furious" and that?
Yeah.
I like car chase scenes.
Have you seen "Bullitt"?
You talking about "Bullitt" with Steve McQueen,
Robert Vaughn, and Jacqueline Bisset?
Yeah.
However you pronounce the last name?
I think it's that, Bisset.
Yeah, I've seen that.
Yeah?
That's a good show.
That's a good car chase.
Yeah.
Why do you think your mom is sending you?
She hit me with the phone.
I guess she -- I guess she did it by accident,
but she was -- but she was mad at the time,
so I thought she did it on purpose,
and so I, like, hit her --
Yeah.
hit her in the head back,
and then -- and then everything else unfolded.
Well, what else unfolded?
The cops came, and, um --
and then I had to go home with my aunt.
Yeah?
When you get angry when you're at home, what do you do?
I just think of things that make me laugh and stuff.
What makes you laugh?
Irony.
Irony -- Irony?
Like a drag racer with flames on it
is actually engulfed by flames.
Yeah.
It's fun-- It's funny, but it's also tragic.
It makes me want to laugh, but it also makes me want to cry.
Yeah.