We've all been there. You don't want to drag your kid along for errands, but things need to get done. Eventually your child digs her heels in, refusing to leave the car. If you're Christina Moon, you leave the air-conditioning running and lock the car from the outside. It'll only take a minute, you think to yourself.
But according to an article in Today Moms, Moon's split second decision to leave her 4-year-old daughter in the family SUV may result in her serving time in jail.
To 32-year-old Moon, much like this mom, the situation seemed perfectly safe. But by the time she returned to the parking lot—15 minutes later—her Ford Explorer was surrounded by police. Someone had no doubt spotted Bella in the SUV, and called 911.
“Finally, I did my return and I ran to my car and I saw the police car circling the parking lot and my heart just sank. I knew as soon as I saw that vehicle that was it—I knew he was there for me,” Moon said.
In addition to $2,000 in court costs, the Michigan mom faces a $500 fine and a 93-day jail sentence for negligence. She has also been investigated by Child Protective Services on four occasions.
Already this year 21 kids in the U.S. and Canada have died from heat stroke as a result of being left in vehicles. So the truth is plain; even though that errand may just take a minute, it's a minute too long.
“The purpose of the laws is not to be the parent police,” said president and founder of KidsAndCars.org, Janette Fennell. “What they’re really meant to do is to say, maybe you don’t know this is serious, but it is.”
But some people feel that prosecuting moms like Moon is taking the letter of the law too far, adding that leaving kids in cars unattended was commonplace for past generations.
Moon feels the response to her actions has been heavy handed. “It’s been very traumatic and stressful,” she said. “We all think it’s just absurd… where is the common sense?”
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