Child endangerment?

I suppose if the child woke up and put the car into gear, it could be. I suppose if somone jumped into the car and stole the child, maybe. But if the cop said 10 minutes and the camera shows 2 minutes, then she can probably get off because his reporting of the incident is incorrect. Children have been known to put cars in gear or in reverse and people have been knows to steal them in a running car. I suppose it depends on how he's justifying it.

This is a tough one. I think you might get different answers on this one from different people based on their own situation. To a lot of people, mostly people without children they might see this as a horrible thing. To those of us that have children we will see it a little differently. Now lets remove the factor of a potential bad neighborhood etc etc and some stealing the car and so on and focus on the issue. If you have a 2 year old that is sleeping in the car, the last thing you want to do is wake that child. A 2 year old is often a lot to handle and a quick nap in the car can be a god send. A quick 20 foot walk to an ATM is just that. Nothing happened to the child. 2 minutes in the car with mom just 20 feet away. In my opinion the officer could have spoken to her and let it be at that. Its not that big of a deal to me. Mother's know whats best for their children and I'm sure she wouldn't put her child in harms way purposely. Lets quit worrying about small things like this and let the police focus on actual criminals that might be out there doing wrong. Just my two cents. Good topic.

I have left my children in the car for a few minutes and they have been fine. Could something happen to them in that short amount of time? yes. Did it no. I had a police officer show up at my door about a situation. He said they had a report of me leaving my children in the car while I went into the store. He asked the ages of the children and told me it was no big deal because he did the same thing with his. My oldest was old enough to watch the others and he felt the same. He told me it was a lady putting her nose where it didn't belong but he had to check it out since it was reported. Yes it is a risk to do this but I would say if a poll was taken in this world and people that did this was bad parents then over half of the parents in the world would be bad.

I would say it is a matter of officer discretion. It is the call of the officer to decide if the lady committed a crime or not. Unfortunately the news doesn't always get both sides of the story and some of the important information is omitted. This can sway the story one way or another and possibly lead others to believe that something inappropriate was done. So without knowing the full truth or both sides of the story I can't really form an opinion on this matter.

I think thats going overboard. I live in a very small town where things like this arent a big deal. In the city though I would never leave my child like this so I think it depends on how safe your town is. The atm I use is at the curb and probably 15 feet from the atm if that far. I leave my kids in the car and go to the atm. I wouldnt leave it running. If my daughter was in the car I would take the keys out but my son cannot get out of his car seat to mess with things. I wouldnt worry where I live about anyone jumping in and stealing my vechile with my child in it. I hope that I never have to regret it if someone decides to steal my vehicle then I will wish I never left my child in there even for a second without me being in it. A lot of times I will get my kids in my car in my driveway and realize I left something in the house and go in and get what I need and come back out. That makes me more leary then parking at the curb in front of the atm for a few seconds.

I think that the police were right in this situation. I don't think that it is the case everywhere, but here it is the law that you can't leave a child alone in a car. This law is a result of the fact that there have been several cases of children that are left inside vehicles that end up dying because they get over heated in the car and though this wasn't what happened in this situation, I think that to stand by laws is what the police have to do.

Regardless of how long a parent is gone, children should not be left unattended, especially in cars. In this situation, with the car running, and they keys most likely inside, anyone could have gotten in and driven off with the child inside. It's utter stupidity on the mother's part, she should have taken her child with her, no matter what. It only takes a second for that child to go missing, or to wake up and not see her mother there and start to freak out, try to get out of her carseat and get out of the car. Maybe she will learn her lesson with the fine she got.

Maybe she unintentionally did that, I belive that the lady had a better excuse because she just left the child in the car sleeping just to get some money from the ATM which is commonly happens in most of the parents. the cop was just exaggerating the issue.

I think its unfair to charge the lady. I think she deserves a warning. She doesnt seem to be doing what is deemed wrong purposely and the video did show that the lady was out for 2 minutes. I am a mom therefore I know why she would want to leave her sleeping child for a while. However I do know that the child could be in danger even in a short while. Therefore my solution would be to not leave the child alone in the car but to wait till she is awake to go the atm. Maybe she can go to the supermarket taking the child along and after going to the atm, she can shop for groceries. That would be a productive solution to me.

I would never leave my child in the car by herself. Is it a pain to drag a sleeping kid out of a carseat for 2 minutes, yes it sure is but you can bet that I am going to do it. Leaving a car running with a child in it is just asking for trouble. I would be terrified that someone would steal the car with my child in it. They do make drive through ATM where you would be right with your child. I have many of times carried my sleeping child out of the car to run a quick errand. I think that she should be fined to me this is endangering a child.

Hello Asyria! I think that child endangerment is a serious matter to disscus, but i also think that police are making a lot of maney because of this, putting moms to pay for anything that they can say was endangerment. I do not think that it wa sright what happened to the woman w=you talked about. Dayly there are a lot of children left unwached for most part of the day, and they only see what is convenient to them

leaving a child in a car alone PERIOD is a form of child endangerment. think about it: within those 2 minutes some psycho could have opened her car door & took off with her child in the car seat its NEVER safe to leave your child in a car no matter what the circumstances the cop was right to give her a ticket. shes lucky she wasnt arrested. where im from thats auto-jail time

As thirdmillion said for someone without kids this can be an awuful thing but for people like me with a 2 yr old that likes to run everywhere and away from mom... well... is a little different. But I think the police officer should've talked to the lady and warn her about the dangers of leaving a child in the car. Some people make a big deal out of it and some people kind of understand the lady. Everyone has their own opinion and we have to respet them :)