Posted on 09/17/2012 9:51:58 AM PDT by lowbridge
A stay-at-home mom from La Porte has filed a lawsuit against the city’s police department, an unknown officer and one of her neighbors.
Tammy Cooper said she was wrongly accused of endangering her children and was even forced to spend the night in jail, all because she let her kids play outside.
She said her children, ages 9 and 6, were riding their motorized scooters in the cul-de-sac where they live while she watched from a lawn chair in her front yard just a few feet away.
“I was out there the entire time,” Cooper said. “I never left that lawn chair the entire time.”
Cooper said a little while later, a La Porte police car pulled up in front of her home.
“I went out there to see what he was here for and he said, ‘Ma’am, we’re here for you.’ I said, ‘Oh really? Why?’ He proceeded to tell me he had received a call from one of my neighbors that my kids were riding their scooters unsupervised.
(Excerpt) Read more at libertynews.com ...
Not only going after the administration that hired this bozo, but she should go after the arresting officer personally. Sue him over his insurance policy limit. Then find the neighbor and end up with their house for being a lying busybody. Sue over the limit of their homeowner’s policy as well.
And she should post signs throughout the neighborhood on what that neighbor did. Let the neighbor taste truth and permanent damage to one’s reputation.
This obviously refers to the street area where the cops were.
But if she HAD been inside, do you think this justifies arresting her for letting the kids play outside?
Short on details, long on outrage. Methinks you’re correct.
Sounds like another JBT worshiper weighs in.
“ages 9 and 6, were riding their motorized scooters in the street”
6?
this peasant..you see ..was “stay at home Mom”
that’s all you need to know about the situation. she’s “supposed’ to be out at work..contributing to the Feds tax coffers ..and putting her kids in subsidized public school and day care. /s
Can't happen? Every time a nonsense ticket is issued so some jerkwater burg can buy the mayor a new car...
Ask Nicolae Ceaușescu how he spent his Christmas in 1989, or Moamar Quadafy if his hemorrhoids are better...
This link references the story along with another story, but offers no new information. I think this link gets something wrong, because it says "a few days ago", but the current story is she is suing, not that this just happened: Children at Play Parents Criminalization
Here's a couple of more links. Not much more information: Mom arrested
All I could find was that the charges were dropped, but the police stand by their actions.
My opinion: We have a he-said/she-said situation. The woman claims she was watching the entire time. The neighbor said she wasn't. The police would interview both, and decide who seemed more truthful. The inclination would be to believe the neighbor, who on the face of it doesn't have a clear motive for lying, while the mother would be expected to lie in order to keep from being arrested.
That has nothing to do with who I think is telling the truth; just how you'd expect police to think, if it wasn't clear from the interviews that someone was lying (changing story, getting details wrong, etc.).
Remember, all we know HERE is the woman's statement made NOW, when she is suing. We don't know what she said to police, we have no way of knowing if she is telling the truth here. For all we know she confessed to stepping inside to get a drink, or use the bathroom. Or she changed her story several times.
All we know is what she is telling us now. And she is suing. So she again has some reason to paint things in her favor.
The police say they ocntacted the district attorney, so there is a contemporaneous record, and probably police reports. If we could see them, we'd have a better chance at understanding.
Last point: I don't think there is any jurisdiction where it is actually LEGAL for children to play in a public street. We all assume that cul-de-sacs are free for play, but the police can pretty much come and run you off anytime they want. Streets are for cars, not kids playing.
That makes perfect sense, from the safety perspective. I know we all played in the street. But if she tries to argue this, I bet there is a law they can charge her with that will land her back in jail.
I presume "motorized scooters" were those plastic things with 12-volt batteries, because she'd definitely get arrested if she allowed a 6-year-old to drive a REAL motorized vehicle in the street.
When have you known reporters to get ANYTHING correct when describing items in a news report? Lots of motorized things a 6 year old could be riding. The 9 yo was probably riding a motorized scooter.
My guess is that a neighbor bought into a nice old folks neighborhood and it’s since flipped to lots of families. Families have kids and kids are the opposite of a nice quiet place. The old grouch now hollers at and calls the cops on everyone. I”ve seen it many times.
Neighborhood watch nazi? Similar feelings to the chap policing Trayvon Martin?
Can a 6 year old legally drive a motorzed bike, there?
At best it is confusing where mom was.
ON the more general question — six is a bit young to be unsupervised, but on your own property it’s nobody’s business. Once they are in the street, things can get murky. I would have allowed my 9-year-old and 6-year-old to ride their bikes around the neighborhood; that would put them in the street, and unsupervised.
So I still think there might be more to this story. Maybe the fact that they were in the street on short scooters, maybe darting around parked cars, put them at risk for being hit by cars who might not see them.
I agree with you. We knew it was time to go home when the street lights came on. Ah the good old days!
The two quotes are not necessarily incompatible. Maybe she "went out" to his car, not "went out" of the house...
It sounds an awfult lot as if the kids were playing in the street while momma was inside watching the soaps (or whatever the 21st Century equivalent of watching the soaps may be).
Even if this is true, how does that break the law? I used to ride all over town on my bicycle without adult supervision. Heck, during the summer we would leave in the morning and not come back until dark.
Last point. Things have definitely changed. In my day, a 9-year-old and a 6-year-old would have walked to school together, maybe for a half-mile. That puts them in the street (my neighborhood had no sidewalks), unsupervised, and well away from home.
Nowadays, it seems we bus a lot more kids, and only those who live almost within sight of the elementary schools can walk there. I don’t know if 9-year-olds would be allowed to walk further or not.
200 million people grew up safely playing in the streets, one way or another, Charles.
Your defense of the indefensible really is fantastically annoying.
The woman was ARRESTED on the word of an anonymous neighborhood busybody. Not warned, not verified, arrested on a charge so trumped-up they had to immediately let her go.
That’s jackboot crap, and everyone knows it.
Even you - which is why your defense of it is so perverted.
Why don’t you go live in China - they reward people like you with good government jobs and pensions, there. Or are you already paid for your writing, here?
“...riding their motorized scooters...”
It sounds like they were driving the neigbors crazy with the noise, so someone called the police.
Good for them.
You said the nieghbor had no reason to lie. You have no way of knowing that. Therefore, your entire post is invalid.
See, that’s the problem... these enforcers never experience any individual personal consequences.
Any lawsuit comes out of the city’s coffers, not their own.
Or it could just be that the cops didn’t show up until after mom and the kids had packed up and went back inside.
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