U.S teen arrested for writing story about shooting pet dinosaur

Alex Stone's school year is off to a rough start. The South Carolina teen was arrested on his second day of school on Aug. 16 after writing in an assignment about shooting his neighbour's pet dinosaur with a gun he bought to "take care of business."

The 16-year-old was charged with disorderly conduct and suspended for several days in the wake of a confrontation with school authorities.

Stone told a local television news station in Summerville that students had been instructed to write a few sentences about themselves as though it were a Facebook status update. Stone said he wrote a fictional story about killing his neighbour's pet dinosaur and that he doesn't think he did anything wrong.

His teacher obviously did, because the school's authorities were notified and police were called. Stone's school bag and locker were searched and police say the student was "irate" when school officials were asking him about the assignment. He was placed in handcuffs and was later charged because of his behaviour, not because of what he wrote, according to police. 

Stone's lawyer calls the arrest "absurd," in a statement on his website, and said he looks forward to defending his client in court. "This is a perfect example of 'political correctness' that has exceeded the boundaries of common sense," David Aylor said.