(Toronto Ontario Canada) <br> Hello there I (22) would definitely appreciate any legal advice (from a real lawyer) as to what to do in this situation.. my mother also doesn't have a clue. Okay... where to begin my little brother(14) was charged with attempted theft under $5000 for allegedly "trying" to steal a chocolate bar. The proof that they have is the store clerks word. Now I am not one to advocate theft and would want my brother to learn his lesson HAD he stole. In fact I am the one who called the cops to the scene because the store clerk apparently assaulted him according to four witnesses and a few high school kids who were also in this store. I figured they were making it up until I got there and she admitted it to me and said that she knew he was "going to" steal. I say to her I'm going to call the cops because there's no excuse to assault a child. This other lady around (40) whom has no affiliation with my brother says to me you have to call the cops I saw the whole thing and she assaulted him... by assault I mean she ran up to him grabbed the chocolate bar out of his hand threw him on the floor scratched him.. took his sweater off him and than threw him out of his store. This sounds a little crazy but apparently shes done this to two other kids... whether or not I want to question her sanity is a different story why would she be working at a public place.. anyways. So I call the cops... I have the witnesses, my brother has a few scratches.. whatever so 2 and half hours later.. and no witnesses later the cops come to just me and my brother waiting outside of the complex. We took down some witness information (which they refused to look at) and they left after the one-hour mark. So the police come out of their cruiser and walk up to me and I'm trying to be really polite because I didn't want to piss them off and I honestly thought they would be on my side. So I walk up to the one officer and I'm like "hello officers I just want to explain the situation to you, I was sitting at home and I receive a call from my brothers friend and he's telling me my brother is getting beat up by a store clerk so I get up and drive over there, by the time I came the altercation has stopped. So the other cop, not the one I was speaking to says to me; "okay you weren't here we don't want to speak with you we want to speak to your brother", I'm like "okay he's over there, I just want to tell you my point of view and give you some witness information" he continues to say "we don't want to speak to you" I'm like okay. So he walks up to my brother and one cop said "I know you stole" and my brother said "no I didn't" the cop continued to say "I know you stole so just admit it and we'll be on our way" My brother says "I didn't steal and she harassed me, I was holding the chocolate bar for 2 minutes and the lady said to me if your not going to buy the chocolate bar than get out and I said to her no I will buy it I just want my friend to buy it for me who was in the back" than the cop says "Do you know what assault or harassment means young man" and my brother says no, but this is what happened" so the cop says "this is a load of crap, I'm gonna go in there and check those cameras, and I swear to you if I find out you were trying to steal this is going to get a lot worse for you, so my brother says "Please check the cameras so you can see what she did to me"... than the cop says "Are you in the system kid, (we said no) and he said well your going to be". So before he checks the camera he says it again "tell me RIGHT now if you were trying to steal something or if you stole something, we can do this my way or your way, you decide". So I walk up to them I'm like excuse me officer he told you to check the camera and he told you time and time again that he didn't steal I don't understand why your trying to get him to admit to something he didn't do". I'm like "don't admit to something you didn't do, because you feel intimidated". So apparently this pissed the cop of really badly so he says to me "you shut up you were not here, we don't want to talk to you". I'm like okay.. so check the cameras than, and another thing the lady admitted to my that she beat him up, soo he ignores me and goes into the store. I try to walk into the store they're like get out you have nothing to do with this. The other cop was nice to me and trying to take down my statement until the rude cop summoned him over, I think he was his superior or something because he was being ordered around. So they come out of the store and they're like we can't see the camera right now because she doesn't have the authority to do that, so we'll be back at 8pm to find out "And I swear to you if you see anything on that camera your going to regret it" ,,, "I'm like okay officers I'll call you at 8" the officer says "don't call me I don't want to talk to you" and I'm like "what about the fact that she admitted to me that she hit him, and there's witnesses" he's like "she has the right to protect her property, "I'm like you just said she doesn't own the store, and do you think that's reasonable force to protect a theft of a chocolate bar even if he did steal it? he says "shuttup you don't know anything about the law, your a child, I know high school students" I'm like sir I'm 22, I go to the University of Toronto, I'm trying to go to law school and I took many legal courses" he's like let me see your I.D. I told him I forgot it because I was in a rush after I heard my brother was hurt" he says "so your driving without a license are you, so I totally shutup after that"... Than I continue "his mother is obviously not here right now shes working and shes a single mother and I'm here because hes a minor" and the cop goes "exactly I know what these kids do, I've been doing this for a long time, and its <b> funny how he's wearing a long sleeve shirt on such a hot day <b> " I honestly didn't know what to say about that so I said okay officers thank you I'll call you at 8. So me and my brother leave, I explain the situation to my mother, she's extremely upset because she couldn't be there, and I had night class so I go to class. The cops come to the house at 9, I tried calling the one police officer at 8 and no answer. They come to the house with my brother and my 19 year old cousin and they serve him with attempted theft, fingerprints and everything, my brother calls me on my way home and I say to him try to stall them I really want to talk to them. He tries to give the cop the phone and he still refuses to talk to me. The nicer cop talks to me and I'm like how did the video surveillance investigation go and hes like "it didn't the camera wasn't working today" and I'm what so what are you charging him for and hes like "attempted theft based on the store clerk lady" at this point I'm extremely angry so I say " doesn't a parent or guardian need to be present for you guys to serve him" and he just laughs and hangs up. I call back my house and surely enough he got the little slips one for the charge, and the other for the fingerprints and everything. So that was the initial day. His fingerprints are today and his court date is July 6, 2009. Now today the police station calls and this lady who is also an officer says to my mom oh this officer called she said come in and see me, "he won't have to do fingerprints or even go to court all he has to do is a little community service", so my mom wakes me up and because I was suppose to take him to the station and I'm like whoaa okay I never heard of this in between the court and police station step before, and why would he have to do community service if he's not guilty of anything? So my question is
1. Should we just go to court (we can't afford a lawyer and legal aid said we don't need one)
2. Should we take the officer up on her word

3. would should we expect from this, if he takes his fingerprints is he going to be in "the system" so to speak.

4. any other comments or advice would be great appreciated