Social media has helped shine a national spotlight on two teens in Bound Brook, New Jersey, who were stopped by police while offering to shovel snow for spending money during the storm this week.
Matt Molinari and Eric Schnepf, both 18, were handing out fliers offering to shovel snow for residents when a police officer
told them to stop, the Bridgewater Courier News reported.
A resident initially posted about the exchange on a Bound Brook Facebook page, sparking a debate.
"Are you kidding me? Our generation does nothing but complain about his generation being lazy and not working for their money," the resident wrote. "Here's a couple kids who take the time to print up flyers, walk door to door in the snow, and then shovel snow for some spending money. And someone calls the cops and they're told to stop?"
While Bound Brook has a law against unlicensed solicitors, Police Chief Michael Jannone told the Courier News that the officer was more concerned about the boys' safety.
"This was a state of emergency. Nobody was supposed to be out on the road," he said, according to the newspaper.
He said the law was put in place to protect residents from transient scam artists. The officer who spoke with the kids was responding to a report of a “suspicious person.” The department said it doesn’t intend to crack down on kids wanting to shovel snow.
A later post on the Bound Brook NJ Events Facebook page attempts to clarify the story after it drew widespread attention.
Twitter users responded to the story.
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