Man calls cops on sister-in-law and 6-year-old nephew after they 'steal' Nintendo Switch.

We all know the saying 'desperate times call for desperate measures.'

The only kicker is 'desperate times' is defined differently by different people. So what seems like a reasonable response to one person, can seem downright unhinged to another.

In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a dad asked if he was wrong for involving the cops in family drama.

They wrote:

AITA for frightening my nephew and making him traumatized for life?

I had a cookout at my place on the 4th. My daughter’s (13) switch goes missing. I contacted family members and my wife’s sister (Kara) said my daughter gave it as a gift to her son Stevie (6) for his upcoming birthday.

I ask my daughter and she said it wasn’t true. She let Stevie use it so they could all play Mario Kart together, and it went missing after the cookout. My daughter is upset, so I call Kara back who insists that the switch is now Stevie's and my daughter is too old to play anyways, or will outgrow it soon and it was a gift to Stevie. She calls my daughter an “Indian Giver.”

After this, I contacted my uncle who is a police officer and he watches Kara’s house and a few of his friends go over and threaten to arrest Steve and Kara over stolen property. Kara reluctantly gives it back after an incident with the officer that she could have been arrested for. The warned Stevie next time steals both him and his mom will go to jail. They let my SIL go without incident.

SIL says Stevie has been crying non-stop and having issues sleeping because he doesn’t want to go to jail and blaming me and my family for traumatizing her son. My response might have been heartless because it was “I guess he’ll never steal again.” Kara thinks he’ll be traumatized for life for making a big deal over a stupid game.

People had a lot of opinions about this situation.

MonkeyPawWishes wrote:

Your sister-in-law got caught stealing and is trying to deflect by telling you her son is traumatized. She thought you would just back down and let her steal from your daughter.

NTA.

FarBend6235 wrote:

NTA. Stevie has bigger problems, like having a mother who likes to steal.

Sorry_I_Guess wrote:

ESH for all the reasons given elsewhere. But also because (and I'm so horrified that not a single other commenter has pointed this out) your sister is racist AF.

'Indian giver' is not a thing. It's a disgusting, racist slur that implies that being a cheat is somehow a Native thing. Your sister is an ignorant racist who encourages her 6-year-old to steal and lies to defend it, and you're a bully who literally used to cops to terrify a small child and, yes, probably traumatize him.

His mom told him it was okay to keep that Switch. She's the person he trusts to teach him right from wrong. He's way too little to understand that she could lie to him.

And you just sent the police to his house to tell him he's a criminal and that he and his mommy could go to jail for doing what she told him was okay. Yes, he needed to learn better, but not like that. This should have been handled between adults.

MichelewithoneL wrote:

ESH (except your daughter). Obviously, the switch was stolen and your sister wasn't going to do anything about it so you needed to figure out an alternative. However, your uncle went way overboard by sending someone out there to threaten arrest. Why didn't HE go over there and explain to Kara that stealing is illegal and he needs the switch back?

Why were third-party cops sent to the scene? Why didn't you go over there and ask for it back? Why was your uncle involved at all? You're an adult man. Stand up for your daughter and teach her how to appropriately respond in situations like this. Instead, you called in an inappropriate favor and probably did make Stevie, who is SIX, scared.

RaineMist wrote:

ESH. Your SIL sucks for lying about the switch. You suck because you had your uncle threaten to take a 6 year old to jail. Hopefully your daughter and nephew realize how stupid both you and SIL were and be better than that.

Clearly, this family needs to some serious conflict resolution skills, because this whole situation is next level.