Am I the only one who feels for the poor mother who was arrested when her 3-year-old was found wandering outside of a hotel down the street from their home in the middle of the night? Listen to the details. I promise you'll get one of those that could have been my kid shivers.
The 22-year-old mom wasn't drunk. She wasn't on drugs. She hadn't left her child home alone. She was sleeping. Sleeping, in the middle of the night! Imagine that! (Like most moms, you probably can't, but you might at least have a faint recollection of the fact that sleeping is not usually considered a crime, not before you have kids anyway.) Samantha Boyd was sleeping when her 3-year-old son simply woke up, opened the front door, and walked out of the house. Shivering yet?
Thankfully, the little boy only got as far as a hotel down the street when a bartender looked outside, noticed him, and of course, called the cops. Shortly thereafter, Boyd woke up, saw her son was gone, freaked out, and called the cops herself. That's when they arrested her. Huh??
Okay, I'm trying to see this from the side of the law enforcement officials, I really am, and I understand that they see abused, neglected kids all the time and that it's better to be safe than sorry. Perhaps procedure dictated that Boyd had to be arrested. But I can't stop imagining what it must have been like for her to wake up and realize, through a groggy haze, that her son was missing. Did they tell her he was okay before they arrested her? Did she know where he was, or who was taking care of him while they put her in cuffs?
It's likely that the only mistake Boyd made that night was forgetting to deadbolt the door, though in my experience, a 3-year-old can be shockingly adept at working locks, so maybe she didn't even "slip up" at all. I just hope that when Boyd goes to court in a couple of weeks to face charges of child endangerment that the judge has the same reaction I did: That could have been my kid.
Do you think Boyd is guilty of any crime?
Image via Nicolaitan/Flickr
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Comments 142
I'm getting one of those chains for my front door. Today my 14 month old climbed UP biggest slide at the playground while I held onto his belt loop. Seriously the kid has super human strength. The door would be no problem for him.
She is a human being and a mother...she was tired....so not her fault!
my son has been able to work deadbolt and doorknob locks since he was probably 18 months. sliding glass doors at 2.5years. we have to have non-walk through gates on both front door and back screen door, and even then all he has to do is throw his body weight against it a couple times and he'd be able to get out. the front door is also chained up near the top of the door. sliding glass doors are going to have pins drilled into them soon to keep them shut.
i agree, i need more info before i could even think about passing judgment.
That could totally be my kid. My 3 year old snuck out the front door WHILE I WAS IN THE NEXT ROOM. I had the regular front door open and the screen door closed to let some fresh air in, and my son waited until I was washing dishes and made his escape. I obviously didn't hear the door over the running water, and didn't even realize he was out there until my neighbor came to the front door and told me. I was mortified. And "what if" situations like this definitely came into my head. Thankfully, my son just saw a group of older kids/teens hanging out outside and wanted to play with them (he had/has no concept of age difference and had no idea that they wouldn't want to play with a 3 year old - he just saw a group of people and thought they could be his friends), and when I ran out to get him he was fine and just standing there. I didn't use that screen door for a long time after that, though.
Its not her fault unless there had been other events such as this one than the mom needs to do something about it yes but arrested no way!!!
Both my nephew and my own son pulled something like this. My nephew was actually found by a cop a block from home at 3 in the morning. Turned out he figured out how to open the window. My son figured out the deadbolt, so we put in one of those hotel room latches up too high for him to reach without using the broom or something.
These things happen. As long as ut wasn't a repeating problem, arresting the mom was a stupid overreaction, imo.
Wow poor mom! This could so happen to anyone. I know someone whose 2 1/2 year old was sleeping so she jumped in the shower. She got out and her son had wondered off. SCARY! But for sure not neglect.
Thats been me, my second son when he was 18 mo old. The cop said he had to file a report, but nothing would come of it. I think we had his sympothy since to get to our front door he had to climb over the two gates that our little spider monkey cralwed over himself.
We invested in a door alarm after that.