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Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

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Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#171

Post by schmookeeg »

IANAL but this stuff interests me -- looks like Mom was charged with 16-5-60(b) [1]

"A person who causes bodily harm to or endangers the bodily safety of another person by consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his or her act or omission will cause harm or endanger the safety of the other person and the disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the situation is guilty of a misdemeanor."

So either this little half-horse town is a serious stepford hellscape, or Mom eats a grand or two (yay for the GoFundMe) to get a competent lawyer to brush this nonsense away. If they succeed in pressing this case that Mom endangered her child, then I hope the reaction is the installation of guardrails and sidewalks all over that town, such that its budget simply implodes.

Just ridiculous. The whole apparatus at work here makes me sad, and there are layers of impersonal failure and risk aversion at work here. It's very cold, and frankly, the kids watching mom get cuffed in their home means any purported damage we're trying to shield the kids from -- is already done.

The government here needs the adult supervision, not the 10 year old.

[1] https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-16/chapter-5/arti...

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#172

Post by TeaBrain »

cafard wrote: post #169
TeaBrain wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I hear about police getting involved simply because a person is out walking, the story almost always turns out to be about somewhere in the south.

Well, Maryland is indeed south of the Mason-Dixon line, but Montgomery County is pretty generic mid-Atlantic suburban, and the first "free range kids" story I remember hearing was from Silver Spring.

The county referenced in the article is in Georgia. I'm not surprised that it's happening all over though. When I was younger, a neighbor called the police about a suspicious man in a hoodie wandering through a backyard. The suspicious person turned out to be me leaving through my parents' back gate to go on a walk.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#173

Post by teo_zero »

At 10 the state insists to protect you against being hit by a car on dangerous roads, at 15 it gives you a license so you you can drive one along the very same roads!

Education in Georgia must be excellent if they make responsible driver out of kids not to be left unsupervised in only 5 years.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#174

Post by perrygeo »

A lot of folks talking about the "10-year-old" part but the more pervasive problem in America is the "walking" part. In many areas of America there is zero infrastructure for pedestrians. Anyone walking is viewed as suspicious because surely no sane person would subject themselves to the danger of walking on these streets. Heaven forbid you are young, brown skinned, or wearing unique clothing - then the act of walking is probable cause. Literally.

I was working on a contract job in Houston and stayed at a hotel a mile from their office. First day was a nice morning so I decided to walk. It was ridiculous to navigate 8+ lane wide intersections. It was loud and not exactly a nice walk, but not unsafe and at least it was better than driving. By the time I got to the office, I realized that the security gate only opened for cars - I wasn't able to trip the sensor to even get the com working! A security guard came out to accost me and immediately treated me like a criminal. He couldn't comprehend why I was traveling on foot and refused to release me until my client came down to rescue me. My client's response, shocked in a scolding tone - "WHY did you walk?". I am apparently insane for wanting fresh air and a little morning exercise.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#175

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

yusufnb wrote: post #151

Sucks. More than the system it's the silly woman who called the cops. Instead of helping the child she did a great disservice to him and his entire family. I had a similar hiccup when I first came to US when our apt neighbor called cops because my 1 year old was screaming. Crazy, I know. This country thrives on fear - health, insurance, legal, weapons - the biggest money making industries in US all feed on fear econo…

That seems too much even for this. What did the cops said? Children are screaming all the time with tantrums

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#177

Post by bb88 »

__turbobrew__ wrote: post #31

I don’t know what is up with the USA and its obsession that kids cannot have autonomy. I think many of us grew up where our parents didn’t know our location at all times. My parents used to tell me to be home by a certain time, but I used to roam the neighborhood, go get candy at the gas station, explore the forest. Maybe it is a sign of the eroding social trust in the USA where people do not believe that others in t…

I think the problem with the US is slow eroding of the rights of youth. We're not treating them as young adults who are fully capable of making their own decisions one day. Instead we're treating them as incapable infants until they leave the nest.

The movie industry is a good example of this. If you're a child in certain places in the US, you'll grow up with violence around you (in real life). There was a movie "The Eighth Grade" that got an "R" rating not because of the violence, but because of the language. PG-13 was in 2018 limited to one "fuck" per film.

https://www.themarysue.com/eighth-grade-is-rated-r/

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#178

Post by ajdude »

Aurornis wrote: post #53
__turbobrew__ wrote: post #31

I don’t know what is up with the USA and its obsession that kids cannot have autonomy. I think many of us grew up where our parents didn’t know our location at all times. My parents used to tell me to be home by a certain time, but I used to roam the neighborhood, go get candy at the gas station, explore the forest. Maybe it is a sign of the eroding social trust in the USA where people do not believe that others in t…

> I don’t know what is up with the USA and its obsession that kids cannot have autonomy. This is a news story and a controversy because it's a weird thing that happened. The US is a big place. Societal norms and law enforcement practices vary widely from location to location. This appears to be one sheriff pushing a personal agenda.

> This is a news story and a controversy because it's a weird thing that happened.

This kind of thing has been going on for decades now, e.g.

Florida mom arrested after allowing 7-year-old son to walk to park alone (2014): https://fox4kc.com/news/florida-mom-arrested-after-allowing-...

Maryland family under investigation for letting their kids walk home alone (2015): https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/contests/maryland-f...

11-Year-Old Boy Played in His Yard. CPS Took Him, Felony Charge for Parents (2015): https://reason.com/2015/06/11/11-year-old-boy-played-in-his-...

Mom Arrested for Letting Child, 10, Shop Alone at Lego Store (2017): https://www.freerangekids.com/mom-arrested-for-letting-child...

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#180

Post by readthenotes1 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #98
bryanlarsen wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just one sheriff, it's: - the busybody who called the cops in the first place - the sheriff - the Assistant District Attorney - the Department of Family and Child Services

The latter 3 all know it’s wrong, but also don’t to be liable at all.

There's an old saying about how difficult it is to convince someone differently when their paycheck depends on it...
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