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Georgia mother of four Brittany Patterson was blindsided when police showed up at her home to arrest her after her 10-year-old son was found walking alone. It began when she received a call from a sheriff’s deputy who had found her son, Soren, less than a mile from her home while she was at the doctor with her older son.
“She seemed very concerned that something terrible was going to happen to him,” Patterson tells Glenn Beck of “The Glenn Beck Program.” “I was not concerned.”
The police officer dropped him off back at home with Patterson’s father, who lives with the family. However, that’s when things took a turn.
“They asked me to step outside, and put my hands behind my back. So at that point, I asked why. And the female officer said, ‘Because you’re under arrest.’ And so, again, I asked, ‘What am I under arrest for?’” Patterson explains, adding, “And for the second time, I didn’t get a straight answer.”
The officer then explained it was “reckless endangerment,” which Patterson’s attorney told her “is not even a thing that exists in Georgia.”
“That sounds like the Soviet Union,” Glenn comments, disturbed.
ParentsUSA executive director and general counsel David DeLugas watched the body cam footage of the incident and overheard Brittney tell the police, “Last time I checked, it wasn’t illegal for a kid to walk to the store.”
“And remarkably, the deputy immediately says, ‘It is when they’re 10,’” DeLugas explains. “And I assure everybody, it’s not illegal for a 10-year-old to be out and about walking. Not in the state of Georgia, it’s not.”
“The statute Britt was charged with violating is actually called reckless conduct. And, hey, in 1997, the Georgia Supreme Court held that statute unconstitutional because it’s too vague and gives law enforcement too much power,” DeLugas continues. “You would think in what — 27 years? — law enforcement in Fannin County would figure out that that statute doesn’t apply.”
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