A mother-of-four was surprised to learn her 10-year-old son had been picked up by police after he walked to a town less than a mile away, but she was even more shocked when police returned to arrest her later that night.
Georgia mother Brittany Patterson’s ordeal began last month on Oct. 30, when her son Soren stayed home while she went to a doctor’s appointment and later decided to walk to the nearby town of Mineral Bluff, less than a mile away.
Evidently, a busybody motorist saw Soren walking along the roadside. When asked if he was okay, the boy replied, ‘Yes;’ however, the motorist still went on to call police.
Patterson was soon contacted by a female sheriff who scolded her for not knowing the whereabouts of her son.
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“She asked me if I knew he was downtown and I said no,” says Patterson.
Patterson was upset that Soren had gone to town without letting anyone know, but says there was hardly reason to worry.
“I was not panicking as I know the roads and know he is mature enough to walk there without incident,” she says.
The sheriff disagreed.
“She kept mentioning how he could have been run over, or kidnapped or ‘anything’ could have happened,” recalls Patterson.
Police left Patterson’s home after dropping off her son, but returned later that evening to arrest her.
They told Patterson to turn around and put her hands behind her back. As three of her kids watched, Patterson was handcuffed. The sheriff took her purse and phone, put her in the cruiser, and hauled her off to jail.
The mother said she’s been raising her sons with a free-range mentality, and argued she saw no problem as she was raised the same way.
However, the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services visited her home and interviewed her children, and is now asking Patterson to sign a “safety plan” acknowledging Soren will never be left unsupervised.
“The plan would also require Patterson to download an app onto her son’s phone allowing for his location to be monitored,” adds Reason.
The mother, however, said she doesn’t want to surveil her son, and enlisted attorney David DeLugas with the pro-bono ParentsUSA legal group to represent her.
DeLugas argued the app would impede Soren’s freedom of movement, and could prevent him from visiting friends, “But the ADA maintained that Soren had been in danger, and thus a safety plan was necessary,” Reason reports.
DeLugas says the stalemate leaves Patterson in a precarious situation where “the veiled threat is that if you don’t sign, your children could be taken away.”
“In this case, [DeLugas] says, the unspoken deal seems to be: Sign it and the state won’t prosecute. If the state does prosecute, Patterson could face a reckless conduct charge, a $1,000 fine, and a year in jail,” according to Reason.
Patterson says she has no plans to sign off on the “safety plan,” and she’s currently seeking donations for her legal defense fund at GoFundMe.