Woman arrested for leaving child "unattended"

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Seriously, there are a lot worse parents out there!
My father would be in jail for thousands of years if that was the ratio

I wonder if they will start throwing mother's in jail for letting their children go in another aisle at the store. Children have been kidnapped in stores when their parents were just a few feet away. You turn around and your child can get snatched. Should they make parents keep their kids on a leash at all times like they do with dogs in some areas and throw mom's in jail if their kids are spotted without a leash?

This woman could get one year in jail and it could happen to anyone. You could be next. I think the best case scenario is she wins but still owes thousands of dollar to pay the lawyer who defended her. That's not right.

Well, really, you're not supposed to let young children wander away in stores. Kidnapping aside, do you know how much trouble little kids get into when they feel like it? I've seen one topple an entire bookcase; now imagine if that was actually a wine display with glass bottles - that kid would be seriously hurt. Kids are also really good at getting lost; heck, I'm really good at getting lost when I wander in another aisle.

Actually, I did have a leash when I was a toddler, but I also had a wandering habit.



Not all cars have modern alarm systems (mine don't), and not everyone keeps their alarm system enabled. I certainly don't, and one of my friends (who has a modern alarm system) keeps hers off as well, because it goes off so often.

As KimJ said, no one looks around for car alarms anymore, because the bloody things are so common. They go off at loud noises, taps, people going into their own cars, for no apparent reason, ect. It's fairly common for that to happen, and no one cares. There's not too much of a risk there, especially if there aren't many people in the parking lot.

Nor do they have to break through the glass to get the child, which would be attention raising. Some skilled car thieves can jimmy the lock in less than a minute; if the woman was taking pictures of her other daughters (as she stated), she wouldn't have been paying attention to the car. It's not a long period of time, but it's still long enough for someone skilled to get into the car, regardless of whether or not he/she intended to steal the baby. One can't know with people these days; incidents like this have resulted in kidnappings before. A few years ago, a woman left her baby in the car for a few minutes while she returned a wheelchair to the hospital; just dropped it off inside, didn't need to stop to check anything or talk or anything like that, came back, and her car (and baby) were gone. She was lucky; they found both later, and the baby was fine, but there was a possibility otherwise.

While this is slightly off to this particular case, heat deaths are also very, very common when babies and young children are left in cars. This time, it was the winter, but who's to say that she hasn't done it in the summer and/or won't do it then? That's serious danger for a little one.

In all honesty, I think it wouldn't have been as much of a problem if both sides had acted better though. If she was throwing a "tirade", it would be difficult to judge what's true and what's not; for all the officer could have known, perhaps she was in the store for awhile and then came out with her other children for the coin dump. Getting defensive does nothing in the end, and it's a bad way to prove a point. By refusing to speak afterwards, she was also putting up a hostile front; it's one of those things that's (understandably) going to make them think that she's lying; why else wouldn't she speak to them?

I think that, perhaps, had she acted better, a warning would have sufficed; however, since she obviously didn't react well, a warning wouldn't be sufficient; I don't think it would get through to her.