Probably. And when someone steals that car and uses it in the commission of a crime the police will come knocking on the car owner's door.
There was a rash of stolen vehicles at local (Kansas City) convenience stores where this was exactly the case... Until one day at a sandwich shop, a lady left her SUV running while running in to pick up some dinner. A man who had just been released from jail was right there, and decided to steal the SUV. He jumped in while she was coming out, and she tried to get her young child out of the back seat. He got tangled in the seat belt as she was trying to pull him out, and the man drove off, dragging the child on the pavement. I think it was more than a mile away before a number of pursuing cars forced him to stop, and they held the man for police. I don't believe that he was beaten anywhere near as much as he deserved. Of course, the child was dead long before the SUV was stopped. The MO legislature eventually passed 2 new laws: It's now illegal to leave a child unattended in a running vehicle, and law enforcement agencies must now check for active warrants before releasing prisoners. You see, the man who had just been released from jail was actually wanted, and never should have been released.
Mark
That's a horrific story. I believe I saw it on Court TV. It's also an interesting situation. The woman's child died a horrible death. If that were to happen again today with the new laws she could be prosecuted. So do we prosecute someone who just lost their child in such a horrible manner? Wouldn't she have suffered enough? While my own opinion would be no I think prosecutors might have a hard time finding a jury that would convict.