Texas mom goes to jail - common sense takes another nose dive

[bscrive]

I am not sure what the cops were thinking but it happened.   

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/09/texas_mom_arrested_for_letting.html   

[old2soon]

On saturday when dad was home all day we got to watch about an hour of T V in the morning after breakfast. Then-summer or winter we were sent outside to play. All though my father was not a sports fan i had the stick and ball things and a hockey stick,skates, and a puck for when the ice was safe on our lakes. I guess to this very day is why i'd rather be outside than inside. I hope the lady wins her case. Lucky i guess that mom and dad didn't get arrested because they didn't watch us every minute of every hour of every day. Damn-guess i had terrible parents.  RIDE SAFE.

[czuch]

Gee, I wonder what would happen if she made them drink outta the hose?
We had to do house work till we could escape. Then there was NO WAY we were going back till the street lights came on. Perfect raising. Lots of love, good laughs and the hand when we needed it.
Thanks Mom and Dad. I miss you and love you.

[Jess from VA]

I think the issue here was more 6 and 9 yo's riding motorized bikes in the street (cul de sac), than classical unsupervised.

A little judgment here would have dictated more discussion and less handcuffs and arrest.

I also think she has a good false arrest case, and the only issue is how much will she settle for.

I had a blissful ignorance of no desire for parental supervision, spent long summer days running like a wild indian with no supervision of any kind, and if I missed dinner there was no punishment, but no dinner.  And I had great parents who taught me the rules with the carrot and the stick.  Now when I began to not come home at all at age 15-16 after closing a gas station at midnight, there was some concern, discussion and a revisitation of the rules of expected behavior.  

[BigAl]

Scooters were non motorised,

Kids were being closely watched.

Her neighbor that called it in was in a Beef with her.

The other lady who is the kids mother, said she should have called the police on the complaintant.

But did not out of trying to be peaceable.


Threats were made by the nosy neighbor but the young mother just let it slide, not now.

She was on TV this morning explaining the case.

Now the police will be sued along with the nosy neighbor who filed a misleading police report.

[SDS]

Lots of armchair quarterbacking here.  The story as written and what BigAl says the mother said on TV don't add up.  Seems that usually the truth lies somewhere between what the two parties involved claim. 

I'm going to bet there was a lot more discussion, most likely heated, that what is claimed.  The article also says that the DA's office was consulted while officers were on scene.  They are the ones who make the ultimate decision on whether or not to file charges. 

I agree that if the mom was out there watching them play that, as this story is told, there don't seem to be grounds for charges.  Seems like the officer has been found guilty in this court of public opinion even though none of us were actually there. 

I'm betting there is  LOT more to this story that what has been reported.

SDS

[BF]

She needs to sue for a heck of alot more than 7 grand. 

[HayHauler]

Sorry BigAl...  they were motorized...  BUT, they could be the electric monster truck type.. 

"According to KPRC in Houston, a neighbor called police last week claiming Cooper's children, 6 and 9 years old, were unsupervised as they rode their motorized scooters around a nearby cul-de-sac. Cooper, however, denies they were unsupervised."

Hay 
Jimmyt

[BigAl]

Sorry BigAl...  they were motorized...  BUT, they could be the electric monster truck type..  

"According to KPRC in Houston, a neighbor called police last week claiming Cooper's children, 6 and 9 years old, were unsupervised as they rode their motorized scooters around a nearby cul-de-sac. Cooper, however, denies they were unsupervised."

Hay  
Jimmyt

THe ones they showed on the news did not look like th motorised type, Is what I am basing my comments on. But if they were it does not matter.

No license no helmet required by adults, children yes, I did not see a motor on them.

So she gets thrown in Jail for letting her kids legally play on a dead end street.

I stand corrected.

Little Trouble Makers.

[HayHauler]

Didn't mean to sound like I was correcting you Al.  I had to go back and reread the story to be sure.

Still, cops should have just talked to the kids and the mom and worked it out.  I was led home by the police more than once on my little dirt bike.  AND no one went to jail.

Hay
Jimmyt

[SDS]

I know I probably sound like I'm trying to start a war here or something but I assure you I'm not.  I just get tired of one side or the other automatically being villified.  I think the vast majority of us here would agree that the media can't be trusted.  I constantly read how the media slants stories to one side or the other and how we can't trust them.  Yet a story like this comes along and suddenly, without hesitation, the police are demonized and should be sued for exorbitant amounts of money.  

From what I've seen and read, no one here has the full story.  We have read what the media wrote and BigAl has seen a tv story about it (more media).  But the mother is now the victim.  

Hayhauler, your right that it SHOULD have been able to be talked out.  But it's also possible that one side or the other (the mother OR the police) wasn't about to be "talked to" and things went south. 

All I'm saying is that we need to back up a bit and realize that unless you know the whole story we ought to be a bit slower to judge.


SDS

[..]

I am not sure what the cops were thinking but it happened.   

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/09/texas_mom_arrested_for_letting.html   

Here's a manifestation of Obama's civilian national security force

Doesn't have the balls to go talk to a neighbour but is quick to call the local plod!!!

When I told my mother I was going out to play she would reply "OK come back in a fortnight" - 2 weeks. This in countries where English wasn't the first or second language.

[hubcapsc]

Doesn't have the balls to go talk to a neighbour but is quick to call the local plod!!!

The first time hand gun fire came up through the woods past where I was working
around my house, I yelled down there, and then came down there... the shooting had
stopped, and there was nobody around.

A few months later their shotgun pellets were raining down on my roof. We had loud
conversation about that across the distance. No more gunfire in my direction that I
know of since then... when I go down there to look where they're shooting now,
it is towards the other neighbors... 

They got us back... the lady called us up and yelled at us for letting our dog bark near
their house.

-Mike "the rest of us neighbors get along pretty well... "