A 10-Year-Old’s Mile Walk Alone Leads to Arrest of Georgia Mom

Skip to comments.

Posted on 11/15/2024 3:13:11 PM PST by nickcarraway

A Georgia mom, 41-year-old Brittany Patterson, was arrested and charged with endangering her son after her 10-year-old went for an unsupervised walk less than a mile from their home.

On October 30, while Patterson was taking one of her other sons to a medical appointment, she received a call from the Fannin County Sheriff’s Department informing her that her son, Soren, had wandered into town alone from their rural home.

In an interview with NBC, Patterson defended her decision, stating, “It’s not a super dangerous or even dangerous at all stretch of road,” and added, “I wasn’t terrified for him or scared for his safety.”

Immediately after Ms. Patterson spoke with the authorities, the deputies brought her 10-year-old son back to their home, and initially, everyone thought that was going to be the end of it. They were wrong.

A few hours after the deputy’s office dropped off Soren at the Patterson home, law enforcement officials came back to arrest the Georgia mom. She was handcuffed and arrested for suspicion of reckless conduct and forced to post a $500 bail.

Ms. Patterson told NBC News, “It was anger and frustration, of course, because my children were having to witness that all.” She added, “They asked me to put my hands behind my back and all that stuff, and I realized what was going on.”

Authorities said they would drop the charges if Ms. Patterson signed a form outlining a safety plan for her children According to Ms. Patterson and her lawyer, after the arrest, local authorities offered to drop the charges if the Georgia mom agreed to sign a form outlining a safety plan for her children, guaranteeing that they would always remain under “watchful eyes”.

The Georgia mom has refused to sign this plan and said she would contest the charges if they add up to be up to one year in jail, saying “This is not right, I did nothing wrong, I’m going to fight for that.”

Her Lawyer, David DeLuglas also questioned the charges. Mr. DeLuglas asked rhetorically if moms and dads must now know the precise location of their children at all times. He told NBC News, “Are all parents going to have to put GPS on their child?” adding, “The parents get to decide for their children unless it is unreasonably dangerous.”

1 posted on 11/15/2024 3:13:11 PM PST by nickcarraway

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson