Can a minor be held liable for breaking laptop I was going to sell to him?

I sold a laptop few months ago to a guy. I didn't k ow he was a minor, it was at night when I sold it. Anyways I was suppose to meet him again and sell another one but the guy never showed, so we wasted 5 hours with driving and waiting for nothing. Anyways he said sorry and we met again. When he was looking at my laptop which is worth about 1k, he takes it and purposely breaks it in half on the ground. Well I called cop and they find him, but the cop says thr guy is 17 and the parents don't have to pay for anything. How can he not be held liable and not have to pay for my 900 dollar laptop?