After making the rounds on nearly every major news network, Brittany Patterson still faces charges after police arrested her for allowing her 10-year-old son to walk alone through their small Georgia town.
The Facts
Patterson, 41, could face prison time if convicted of “reckless conduct.”
Bodycam footage shows Fannin County Sheriff’s Office deputies arresting the mom for “reckless endangerment,” a charge that technically does not exist. The deputy also claimed the law prohibits a 10-year-old from walking alone, but no statute like that exists in Georgia. During the arrest, Patterson appears bewildered by the accusations levied against her.
Patterson left her soon-to-be eleven-year-old son, Soren, at home alone while she took her other son to a doctor’s appointment. After someone reported Soren walking into town, deputies located him and brought him home. They returned later to arrest Patterson.
According to Patterson’s lawyer, authorities offered to drop the charge if she signed a safety plan and installed a GPS tracker on her son’s phone. She refused to do so.
Analysis
Patterson and her son live in Mineral Bluff, GA. The town has a population of 223. The walk from Patterson’s home to the single 4-way stop in town is exactly one mile. Her 10-year-old son walked alongside a two-lane road with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour.
David Delugas, her attorney, claims deputies arrested Patterson for violating a statute already ruled unconstitutional by the Georgia Supreme Court. That is, in fact, true. In Hall v. State, the state’s highest court ruled the statute violates the due process rights guaranteed by the state and federal constitutions. In its opinion filed May 12, 1997, the court found the law “vaguely worded so as to encourage arbitrary and selective enforcement by police.” That particular case presented much more serious facts, including the death of a child left under the care of a 12-year-old.
Opinion
Delugas says, “Parents everywhere need to be concerned.” Yes, they should. Not only can someone “with a uniform, a badge, and a gun…get an arrest warrant at any time for anything,” but government agencies wield nearly this same power. Child Protection Services can interrogate your child at school without your permission. CPS can show up at your home and remove your children. In some cases, police do not even need a warrant to remove a child.
In my case, a CPS worker lied to the police. Minneapolis police violated the Fourth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by threatening to arrest me if I did not surrender my three little girls. They had no evidence of harm (none existed). The CPS worker had only a safety plan, which I had refused to sign.
