Posted on 11/12/2024 12:19:59 PM PST by algore
A mother-of-four was handcuffed in front of her children and hauled off to jail after she allowed her 11-year-old son to walk less than a mile into a small town.
Brittany Patterson went to drive her eldest son to a medical appointment on October 30, 11-year-old Soren, was supposed to tag along - but was not around when it was time to leave
She had figured he was simply playing in the woods or visiting his grandmother, Patterson told the outlet, noting that her father lives with them and her mother and sisters live just two minutes away.
But it turned out Soren decided to walk to downtown Mineral Bluff, a town of just 370 people that is less than a mile from their home.
He was spotted alongside the road by a woman who asked if he was OK, and even though he replied that he was, the woman called police
A female sheriff's deputy then picked up the boy, and called Patterson.
'I know the roads and know he is mature enough to walk there without incident,' Patterson said of the street that has a speed limit of up to 35mph.
The deputy, however, 'kept mentioning how he could have been run over, or kidnapped or "anything" could have happened,'
The deputy ultimately drove Soren home and left him with his grandfather.
around 6.30pm that night, the deputy showed up with another officer, handcuffed Patterson and brought her to jail, where she was fingerprinted, had her mugshot taken and was put in prison garb, according to an online fundraiser set up for her legal bills.
She said she did not understand what was happening, as she had grown up in the area with unsupervised time to wander and play, and was raising her children that way as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Guess all the kids around Mineral Bluff will be jetting when they see the police.
WE must have been neighbors.I walked the exact same route. When it was icy my parents would wrap my bare feet in Barb wire for traction !!!
Crikey - this isn’t Chicago.
“He was spotted alongside the road by a woman who asked if he was OK, and even though he replied that he was, the woman called police”
The Karen calling the police is a public record. Name and shame. Make her famous.
So much for Norman Rockwell.
Mine was about 3 miles all told. At 10. Never had any issues. Only with people who wouldn't pay. No pay, no paper. I want my two dollars.
In most states 11 is old enough to go without supervision for long periods of time, or even to babysit.
The Sheriff or DA ordered her arrest.
Somebody needs a rubber hose treatment pronto (barring omitted details, it’s clear that it’s not the mother).
I walked home from my first day at kindergarten, by what authority is this a police issue?
You must have been from a wealthy family. I got your used barbed wire......
I had paper routes in Mississippi, Birmingham Alabama and Jacksonville, Florida (Sherwood Forest).
My step-father was a government employee so we moved around a lot.............
Same here. I had no mercy on deadbeats...............
In the early 1970s, my mom would write a note for me to walk to store to buy her cigarettes. Then I would walk back with two packs. My brothers and I delivered papers, few miles both ways. Would walk most places. This was in suburban Pittsburgh PA. It was safe, though safer then for all, since interstates weren’t bringing thugs from City yet.
The boy’s mother is not the problem. The problem is the deterioration of our civilization that causes it to be dangerous for a child to walk alone.
I used to walk to school, beginning in Kindergarten. I had to cross a busy street. That was back a few years, when things were different. It’s not the same world any more.
Hoping there’s ALOT more to this story...
When I was six or so, I was turned loose with the neighborhood kids. By seven, I was literally off in the hills, sometimes for hours, with my best friend, looking for fossils and adventure. By ten, I was on my bike, riding sometimes miles to visit friends (by then we’d moved into the country). Unless, as I said, there’s a whole lot more to this story, it’s just another example of how insidious, officious, and outrageous the nanny-state has become.
If this had been the law in my little town in the 70s, they would have had to arrest every parent in town.
wtf did mama do wrong?
if there’s been good parenting, kids at his age can certainly walk a mile
at his age, I was earning enough to pay the family home mortgage from my after-school jobs (which included a 6 mile paper route)
wtf did mama do wrong?
if there’s been good parenting, kids at his age can certainly walk a mile
at his age, I was earning enough to pay the family home mortgage from my after-school jobs (which included a 6 mile paper route)
Good for her indeed
She had grown up in the area with unsupervised time to wander and play, and was raising her children that way as well.
At 11 I had the free range life living out of the city limits it was great learned a lot.
Little did I know that later in life they would make movies of such wonderful places and things.
“My step-father was a government employee so we moved around a lot.............”
Yeah, we moved a lot too. My dad was in the Naval Air Force. It sucked because every time I’d make friends, we’d up and move away again.
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