By Free Republic | Created at 2024-11-15 00:42:29 | Updated at 2024-11-28 07:47:52
1 week ago
10-year-old walks alone a mile away from Georgia home, leading to his mother's arrest
NBC News ^ | November 14, 2024 | David K. Li
Posted on 11/14/2024 4:19:13 PM PST by grundle
Brittany Patterson, 41, said she was shocked that her son's stroll could lead to a criminal charge.
A Georgia woman was arrested and accused of allegedly endangering her son — all because the unsupervised 10-year-old walked less than a mile away from home, officials said.
Brittany Patterson, 41, had taken another son to a doctor on Oct. 30, and she became mildly annoyed — but not at all worried — when the Fannin County Sheriff's Department called to say her son Soren had wandered from their rural home in Mineral Bluff and into town.
"It's not a super dangerous or even dangerous-at-all stretch of road," Patterson told NBC News in an interview that aired Wednesday. "I wasn't terrified for him or scared for his safety."
Deputies drove Soren, now 11, home and that was that, or so Patterson thought.
But then hours later, the sheriff's department went back to the family's home near the North Carolina border, where Patterson was handcuffed, arrested, booked on suspicion of reckless conduct and forced to post $500 bail.
"It was anger and frustration, of course, because my children were having to witness that all," she said. "They asked me to put my hands behind my back and all that stuff, and I realized what was going on."
Authorities have offered to drop the charge if Patterson signs a form that outlines a safety plan guaranteeing that her children would always be under a watchful eye, she and her lawyer said.
Patterson refuses to sign the form and said she'll contest the charge, which carries up a year behind bars.
"This is not right. I did nothing wrong," she said. "I'm going to fight for that."
Patterson's lawyer, David DeLugas, rhetorically asked whether mothers and fathers now have to know the precise locations of their children at all times.
"Are all parents going to have to put GPS on their child?" he said. "The parents get to decide for their children unless it is unreasonably dangerous."
A representative for the district attorney in Fannin County could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: children; georgia
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1 posted on 11/14/2024 4:19:13 PM PST by grundle
To: grundle
Authorities have offered to drop the charge if Patterson signs a form that outlines a safety plan guaranteeing that her children would always be under a watchful eye, she and her lawyer said.
Patterson refuses to sign the form and said she’ll contest the charge, which carries up a year behind bars.
she is standing up for us.
2 posted on 11/14/2024 4:21:27 PM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
To: grundle
Wow! The places I rode my bike as a kid... For one thing I am not sure my parents knew and for another, they were safe country roads. Kids all over the US walk that far to relatives’ houses.
3 posted on 11/14/2024 4:23:37 PM PST by madison10
To: grundle
Stupid. When I was 10 we’d grab our Cub Scout gear and go into the forest and river bottom and camp for days exploring.
1969 in southern CA.
4 posted on 11/14/2024 4:23:45 PM PST by Fledermaus (The election is over! We won big! So why are so many here nick picking, moaning, and whining? )
To: grundle
Has it really come to this? I mean, when I was a kid, we’d go all over the place, in the woods, down by the creek, shopping center, other neighborhoods - without telling our parents. Just had to be home by dinner time and inside when the street light came on.
5 posted on 11/14/2024 4:25:21 PM PST by meyer ("When, in the course of human events,....")
To: grundle
Wasn’t it 1/4 mile a couple of days ago?
Talk about “the tales grow longer on down the line”
6 posted on 11/14/2024 4:25:37 PM PST by Pollard
To: grundle
Latchkey kids are laughing at this. I used to walk or bike 3 miles to the stable if no one was around to give me a ride. NOTHING was keeping me from my ponies!
7 posted on 11/14/2024 4:25:43 PM PST by ponygirl (Stay gold.)
To: grundle
What’s happen to the world when I was in school I took the city bus to and from school from age 6 to age whatever when I finished school, it was normal
8 posted on 11/14/2024 4:26:48 PM PST by butlerweave
To: grundle
Wow. I wonder what would have happened to my mom who let me walk from 17th and Third Ave to 32nd and Fifth to Polk’s Toys and Hobbies so I could see if Revell had put out a new model P51. When I was ten. She gave me $$ for lunch at Nedick’s but I’d have to return with my dad if there was something I wanted.
9 posted on 11/14/2024 4:27:38 PM PST by xkaydet65
To: grundle
kids that age walk that far to school every day
10 posted on 11/14/2024 4:28:25 PM PST by Sacajaweau
To: grundle
To: grundle
12 posted on 11/14/2024 4:32:33 PM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
To: All
13 posted on 11/14/2024 4:32:43 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is █████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █ ███████ ████. FJB.)
To: grundle
When we were kids we rode our bikes down a busy 4 lane highway to the strip mall where we turned in our bottles for the deposit at the grocery then went over to Neisners five and dime to stock up for candy.
We also ran wild in the woods behind our subdivision and swam unsupervised in a sand pit that was probably 150 ft deep in the middle.
Mineral Bluff, GA is like Mayberry.
14 posted on 11/14/2024 4:33:08 PM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
To: All
"This is not right. I did nothing wrong," she said. "I'm going to fight for that."
Thats what she says going in. Wait until prosecutors put the screws to her. I sincerely hope she can hold up and win. But she’s gonna have rough days ahead.
To: Rightwing Conspiratr1
Yup! All of that and more!
(p.s., we all had .22 rifles on those bikes, but don’t tell the nanny state)
16 posted on 11/14/2024 4:40:32 PM PST by Fireone (Americans have had enough.)
To: grundle
When I was 7 or 8 I’d ride my bike miles away from home. When I was 12 I rode my bike halfway to Baltimore (and all the way back) from Mt. Airy MD just to see how far i could get.
17 posted on 11/14/2024 4:40:33 PM PST by struggle
To: grundle
a mile is a “block” in a lot of communities. lol.
18 posted on 11/14/2024 4:41:34 PM PST by IllumiNaughtyByNature (Polls are designed to sell more ads & polls only. If it's not a horse race the money dries up.)
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