A mother of four was handcuffed and taken into custody by police in Georgia for “reckless conduct” because her ten-year-old son went for a walk in their neighborhood.
The arrest occurred on October 30 in rural Fannin County, Georgia, when resident Brittany Patterson, a mother of four, opened her door to find two police officers informing her that she would be taken into custody. When she asked why, the officers said that she had committed the crime of “reckless endangerment” after her ten-year-old son went for a walk to a nearby gas station. Take a look:
According to The Free Press, Patterson’s son, Soren, had taken a walk to a nearby gas station while her father was watching the kids during her scheduled medical appointment. At first, a neighbor noticed Soren walking down the country road by himself and called the police, who then picked Soren up and brought him home. Patterson returned home shortly thereafter and was arrested six hours later. Per the report:
Patterson said Soren had been at home with his grandfather when he walked to the gas station in Mineral Bluff, a town of a couple hundred people with no traffic lights. This was unusual for the boy, but not particularly surprising, either: His best friend’s grandmother works at the gas station, and he had gone to visit her. As soon as she got home, Patterson said she warned Soren that he had to text her if he went anywhere on his own in the future. Then she went on with her day, not giving any more thought to the incident.
Technically, there is no “reckless endangerment” charge in Georgia, and Patterson was actually charged with “reckless conduct,” punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, Patterson’s lawyer David DeLugas told me [The Free Press]. Almost three decades ago, that same charge was brought against Rosalind Hall, a mother who went on a date and left her 11-year-old son to babysit her other three kids, aged one, three, and five. While she was out, her three-year-old son died of a head injury. But when the state tried to prosecute Hall, the Georgia Supreme Court threw out the case and deemed the law unconstitutional.
Patterson, who has three other children older than Soren, is married to Josh, a superintendent at a Native American school system in Montana where he spends most of his time working. But her father, who is disabled and doesn’t drive, lives with Patterson and her kids and is home all the time. Under Georgia state law, kids between the ages of 9 and 12 can be left alone for up to two hours, and Patterson had left Soren—who was just days from turning 11—at home with his grandfather for 90 minutes. She did not give Soren permission to walk to town by himself, although even if she had, DeLugas said, it would not have constituted a criminal act.
Patterson called being dragged from her home in handcuffs while her children watched “humiliating” and “traumatic,” adding that she “always had the utmost respect for law enforcement.”
Parental rights advocates have said the incident should have never gone past the neighbor dialing 911, asserting that the authorities should have only expressed concern if the neighbor reported the child being in distress. The Free Press highlighted several anecdotes around the country of parents facing legal retribution for simply giving their children a bit of freedom.
After her arrest, Patterson had been presented with a “safety plan” from the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, which requires her to download an app onto her son’s phone to monitor his location as a “case manager stood by as a witness.” She would also be required to a designate a “safety person” to watch over the kids in her absence and would be required to instruct her son about staying on the property as a case manager witnessed the conversation.
Patterson has refused to sign the plan and may be subject to criminal prosecution if she refuses to take a plea deal, which has not yet been offered to her. The assistant district attorney has issued no comment on the case. Patterson told The Free Press that she has since received an outpouring of support from the public.
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