Another mother arrested for letting her child play at a park unsupervised

[Oldgamer]

I really think this is getting ridiculous. My kids grew up as the typical kid that walked or rode a bike to school that was a little less than half a mile away from our home. They came home after school on their own, did chores and homework, played outside at the park that was down the street, and went swimming with their friends at the local pool at the age of 7! Are we going to put leashes on our kids now? These days the crime rate is way down to.

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Link to News Article

“Didn’t think I was doing anything wrong:” Mom arrested for allowing 7-year-old son to go to park alone"

Port St. Lucie, FL (WPTV) — A mom faces a charge of child neglect after she allowed her son to go to a park alone. She says he’s old enough but Port St. Lucie Police disagree. Now she’s fighting back.

“I’m totally dumbfounded by this whole situation,” says Nicole Gainey.

It began last Saturday afternoon when Gainey gave her son Dominic permission to walk from their house to Sportsman’s Park .

“Honestly didn’t think I was doing anything wrong,” says Gainey, “I was letting him go play.

It’s a half mile from their Port St. Lucie home. Dominic says it only takes him about 10 to 15 minutes to get there. During the walk, the 7-year-old passed a public pool. Someone there asked him where his mom was.

“They asked me a couple questions and I got scared so I ran off to the park and they called the cops,” says Dominic Guerrisi.

Dominic was playing at the park when an officer pulled up.

“They said ‘where does your mom live,’ ” says Dominic.

Police took him home. That’s when his mom was arrested and charged with child neglect. Gainey says she was shocked.

“My own bondsman said my parents would have been in jail every day,” says Gainey who paid nearly $4,000 to bond out.

The officer wrote in the report that Dominic was unsupervised at the park and that “numerous sex offenders reside in the vicinity.”

“He just basically kept going over that there’s pedophiles and this and that and basically the park wasn’t safe and he shouldn’t be there alone,” says Gainey.

She believes Dominic is mature enough to go to the park alone during the day. Gainey adds her son always has a cell phone which she calls to check on him.

“That I’m here and safe,” says Dominic.

Gainey plans to fight the felony charge. But after this she won’t let Dominic go to the park alone. She’s afraid she’ll be arrested again.

The St. Lucie County State’s Attorney’s office says there is no law that specifies how old a child has to be before he or she can go somewhere unsupervised. It’s done on a case-by-case basis.

 

[Brovane]

The St. Lucie County State’s Attorney’s office says there is no law that specifies how old a child has to be before he or she can go somewhere unsupervised. It’s done on a case-by-case basis.

This to me is a big problem. If you are going to be going around around arresting people for this there needs to be some type of age limit set. You cannot just leave it open to interpertation because this just leaves things to open for abuse by DA's and Law Enforcement. If you are going to tell me something is against the law give me some specifics, guidance about how to comply with the law. Don't allow me to use my best judgement and then turn around and charge me when you disagree with that judgement. My wife starting leaving or children home along for up to 30mins at a time when they where 8 and 9 to run some errands. Some of her friends where shocked and thought it should be illegal. Well in CA there is not set age limit.

 

[desy]

Yep it can't be ambiguous

 

[CPA]

John Adams used to walk 5 miles in the morning with his sons, even when the were young, and when he was off in Philadelphia or across the Atlantic he would encourage his sons to continue their walks for exercises sake. He would be arrested and hung today.

 

[CPA]

Yep it can't be ambiguous

Yes it can, if there's common sense applied. Using an excuse of pedophiles is not common sense.

 

[BoberFett]

America is going full retard.

 

[bshole]

Um...... how many kids are molested or worse every day because their parents left them unsupervised? Full retard is letting your 7 fucking year old child walk alone through a half mile corridor of child molestors. You are just begging for the freaks to molest your kid.

C'mon Bober, surely you can think better than that.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Um...... how many kids are molested or worse every day because their parents left them unsupervised? Full retard is letting your 7 fucking year old child walk alone through a half mile corridor of child molestors. You are just begging for the freaks to molest your kid.

C'mon Bober, surely you can think better than that.

I let my 11 year old go to the park to play or ride his bike to his friend's house alone. An adult could easily overpower him.

How old is old enough exactly? It isn't specified anywhere so I don't see how the police can enforce this.

I hope she fights it and wins. Sue the city for her legal expenses.

 

[bshole]

Well I guess we should let nature take its course. The children of stupid parents will die off early due to their parents lack of common sense (see above) and children of people like me will survive to pass on the good genes.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Well I guess we should let nature take its course. The children of stupid parents will die off early due to their parents lack of common sense (see above) and children of people like me will survive to pass on the good genes.

The difference is yours will be living with you until they are in their 30s, completely unable to cope in the real world, and mine will be supporting himself long before then.

 

[MrPickins]

Um...... how many kids are molested or worse every day because their parents left them unsupervised? Full retard is letting your 7 fucking year old child walk alone through a half mile corridor of child molestors. You are just begging for the freaks to molest your kid.

C'mon Bober, surely you can think better than that.

In 80% or more of child sexual abuse cases, the child is abused by someone he or she knows and trusts.

http://www.blountkids.org/abuse-information-answers/

You're letting the media exaggerate severity of stranger-danger..

 

[brandonb]

The day we are afraid to walk down the street because of a <insert criminal's name here be it child molester, robber, rapist, etc.> will be a sad day indeed. However, nothing happened to this kid, and there is not a crime for letting your child walk by themselves.

My 8 year old goes out jogging down the block to the stop sign and back a few times a week, by himself. To get some exercise. Sometimes I go with him, sometimes I don't, sometimes he hops on his bike. It's 0.3 miles to the stop sign, so half a mile both ways. Takes us all of 10 minutes. Big deal.

I'd rather have him do this than be scared to leave the house. And to bshole: What good genes?

 

[BoberFett]

Um...... how many kids are molested or worse every day because their parents left them unsupervised? Full retard is letting your 7 fucking year old child walk alone through a half mile corridor of child molestors. You are just begging for the freaks to molest your kid.

C'mon Bober, surely you can think better than that.

Speaking of full retard...

 

[Knowing]

What's the point of a sex offender registry that follows an offender for the rest of their lives if they're going to let them live on the perimeter of a park and arrest parents for letting their children play there.

While we're uttering our incantations for the cult of the children, shouldn't we just close all the parks so that paedos don't have anywhere to lure / abuse them? Clearly we're not doing enough - There is a time when one realizes that they have gone too far, but we should keep going just to see what happens.

 

[Theb]

Um...... how many kids are molested or worse every day because their parents left them unsupervised? Full retard is letting your 7 fucking year old child walk alone through a half mile corridor of child molestors. You are just begging for the freaks to molest your kid.

C'mon Bober, surely you can think better than that.

Turn off the cable news for a minute and stick your head out a window. How many pedomurderapists do you actually see?

 

[BoberFett]

Turn off the cable news for a minute and stick your head out a window. How many pedomurderapists do you actually see?

He thought he was looking out a window. Turns out it was a mirror. No wonder he sees pedos everywhere. Hell, he's got a little girl for his avatar. Wonder which victim number she is...

 

[nehalem256]

http://www.blountkids.org/abuse-information-answers/

You're letting the media exaggerate severity of stranger-danger..

So you are saying the parent was actually being responsible by staying the hell away from their child

 

[SunnyD]

It&#8217;s a half mile from their Port St. Lucie home. Dominic says it only takes him about 10 to 15 minutes to get there. During the walk, the 7-year-old passed a public pool. Someone there asked him where his mom was.

&#8220;They asked me a couple questions and I got scared so I ran off to the park and they called the cops,&#8221; says Dominic Guerrisi.

Oh my god, the kid did the god damn right thing when confronted by a stranger! Arrest his mother because she taught him how to properly react in that exact situation!

This woman should be commended and held up as a model standard for parenting.

 

[Zargon]

LOL srsly

we used to do go to the park alone ALL THE TIME at age 6(not alone, but me and my brother and a friend or two)

we just had to be back for lunch or dinner depending on the time

 

[MrPickins]

So you are saying the parent was actually being responsible by staying the hell away from their child

http://southpark.cc.com/full-episodes/s06e11-child-abduction-is-not-funny

 

[Kadarin]

Charges should be dropped, or preferably never filed. This is just stupid.

When I was 7 I went to the park all the time without parents around.

 

[CZroe]

I went all over on my own when I was 7. That was before I had a Nintendo and so I'd go exploring every day instead.

I'd hop on my bike and end up in parks in distant neighborhoods where I didn't know anyone. I'd go to swimming holes in the woods with my new friends. I'd walk the railroad tracks so far that the sun would go down and I'd have to spend all night walking back. I'd follow creeks for miles into the woods and get stuck in mud. I had no cell phone and my mom had no clue where I was. Heck, most of my railroads/woods/creek/swimming hole exploring probably wouldn't have cell service anyway!

 

[bshole]

Charges should be dropped, or preferably never filed. This is just stupid.

When I was 7 I went to the park all the time without parents around.

...and when the child is abducted, raped and murdered.... charge the parents with the cost of investigation, finding and prosecuting the perp. Why should responsible parents like myself pay for the idiocy of parents who can't be bothered to monitor their own children?

Given how beautiful my daughter is I don't allow her to go anywhere by herself. I watch her like a hawk. My son on the other hand I give lots of leeway. He is strong and fast and not nearly as trusting. Common sense parenting.... it really isn't that difficult.

PS. If I saw someone like Bober within a country mile of my daughter, I would be dialing 911 instantly! Something just ain't right there...... LOL! Love ya brother!

 

[BoberFett]

...and when the child is abducted, raped and murdered.... charge the parents with the cost of investigation, finding and prosecuting the perp. Why should responsible parents like myself pay for the idiocy of parents who can't be bothered to monitor their own children?

Given how beautiful my daughter is I don't allow her to go anywhere by herself. I watch her like a hawk. My son on the other hand I give lots of leeway. He is strong and fast and not nearly as trusting. Common sense parenting.... it really isn't that difficult.

PS. If I saw someone like Bober within a country mile of my daughter, I would be dialing 911 instantly! Something just ain't right there...... LOL! Love ya brother!

Is that your daughter in your avatar? You seem to have an unhealthy obsession with her. I hope you're not molesting her.

 

[bshole]

Is that your daughter in your avatar? You seem to have an unhealthy obsession with her. I hope you're not molesting her.

Dude I insinuate you are pedo and then use it back on me? That is the extent of your originality?!?! If you are going to use a put down, at least create your own material and don't steal mine!