The most "heinous" case of bullying Upper Darby police superintendent Mike Chitwood has ever seen has been knocked down to a handful of misdemeanors.

All charges were dropped against one of the accused. Five others admitted to wrong-doing in the incident, the last proclaimed his innocence and demanded a trial.

From our story:

Defense attorney Tracie M. Burns, who is representing one of the defendants, said her client has accepted responsibility for his actions.

“It was a fair outcome,” she said.

One of the defendants, a 15-year-old who entered an admission, stood before Durham and said, “I’m sorry for what I did.”

That boy’s attorney, Daniel McGarrigle, later said the outcome was “an appropriate resolution.”

“These are the appropriate charges,” he said, adding that some of the comments made by police “ramped up” the situation and turned it into something it really wasn’t.

He declined to name any police officer or official in particular, but said labeling the teenagers thugs and hoodlums was over the top.

“He is a 15-year-old who made a mistake,” McGarrigle said of his client. “Who hasn’t made a mistake when they were 15?”

I don't expect Mike Chitwood to admit a mistake in ramping up the situation into something it wasn't. But I do expect him to know it.

As for the kid going to trial. He may not be guilty of a crime. But if he was there witnessing what the others were doing and not doing anything to stop it, he is guilty of gutlessness. Who among us has not been guilty of the same sort of cowardliness, especially when we were 15?