Ok, so some people here feel it is okay to leave a 2 year old baby alone in a car.

I ask those people to think about this: From the statements made by the woman, and by all of our knowledge of the layout of a Walmart parking lot, I think it is safe to assume the woman parked her car illegally in the "Fire Zone" in front of the Walmart. Even if she was parked legally, the car seems to have been parked in the street. It was sleeting, so the ground was slippery enough that the mother was worried about slipping and falling. I submit that the woman put her child in danger by parking in a place she shouldn’t have and exposing her baby to the possibility of another driver sliding on the slippery pavement and crashing into her car.

Also, by her own statement, she refused to speak with the police until her husband arrived. While this is certainly her right, if she feels she was not guilty of anything then she should have taken that opportunity to make a statement to the police. When a suspect refuses to make a statement to the police, the police have only their own information to go on... in this situation the information the police officer had was that she witnessed a child left alone in the car. Perhaps if the mother had explained the situation things would have gone differently?

And a meteorite could have landed on it, too.

I don't know if you've ever had any unwelcome conversations with the police, but when they make it clear that you are their enemy, you shut your mouth because they will twist every syllable that comes out of it against you. There's no talking out of anything or trying to get them to understand. Just - shut - up.

My name is Tim Janecyk. I am the Husband of Treffly and the father of the three little girls who were hurt by the Crestwood Illinois Police at the Walmart in Crestwood on December 8th 2007. And I am mad.

1. My wife broke no law.
2. Our child was taken into the custody of the state against our will
3. My wife was arrested and thrown into jail.
4. Our other children were left there scared, cold and without supervision.

We have appealed to the public for help. Reasonable people are outraged that this could happen to any family. The police, led at this time y Police Chief Timothy Sulikowski offer only 'no comment' and tell everyone 8 days later only that the investigation is still 'open' and there is no report of what happened that night to my children and wife and they will not release the video.

THE ENTIRE INCIDENT WAS CAUGHT ON VIDEO. They charge my wife with child abuse, take my kid, leave my other kids in danger and they

SUPRESS THE REPORT AND DON'T RELEASE THE VIDEO.

Americans should be outraged. The police tear apart an onnocent family in the name of 'child welfare' and they are doing a good job of hiding their actions. This father is fighting for his children. They hope the story will die down before the police report and video are released.

OUR ATTORNEY DELIVERED A SUBPEONA FOR THIS REPORT LAST WEEK.

Yet the police chief uses the excuse of an 'open' investigation to deny the public access to documents and video that will show:

THE CRESTWOOD POLICE COMMIT AN ACT OF CHILD ABUSE.

Everything was caught on video... from the moment my wife arrived, my kids putting money in the Salvation Army bin, my family returning to the car, my wife being cuffed right in front of my kids and thrown into the back of a squad car.... while the police did nothing but abandon my other children.

NO LAW WAS BROKEN. A FAMILY WAS BROKEN UP BY THE LAW.

Everyone should demand that the Police Chief quit hiding behind his 'open' investigation and show the facts to the public. If he will not do that, Mayor Stranzcyk, he should be fired. Don't let the misconduct of these negligent officers tarnish the badge for all of the decent Police.

DONT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOUR FAMILY. I WILL FIGHT THESE GUYS UNTIL JUSTICE PREVAILS AND THIS INJUSTICE IS CORRECTED.

Tim Janecyk
StopBadCops@GMAIL.com

Tim, thank you for registering at ATS and commenting on my thread. I am so in your favor where this incident is concerned (obviously, by my posts) and being up in Lake County, it's local news for me.
I agree that what happened was an assault on law and order with no intention by the CPD officer to protect or serve anything but her own arrogance and authority. There's no point anymore for me to suggest what the cop should have done. She screwed up and I think you and your lovely wife and kids will be vindicated...in time. You ARE going to sue, I hope. People in authority positions need to account for their mistakes more so that those without authority. Chief Sulikowski has a responsiblity to bring forth all evidence collected from the incident and present it in court or drop the whole ball of wax.

Good luck to your family during this ordeal and please, please continue to read and keep up with the thread because I'm sure there is a lot of support here for you. Don't mind those that see another viewpoint, they exist. Please don't explode when you read posts that may sound insulting or belittling, because, it is very hard to "hear" the questions and statements in the voice they were given. There are many digital egos here at ATS and we acknowledge all of them and ignore them at our leisure.

Thank you Tim,

Cuhail

Around here our Wal Mart has 6 cameras. But if you leave a kid in the car... That's wrong. If they are sleeping why not leave them at home? Or if this woman had other kids why not leave one of the older ones with the youngest at home?

Or... Not leave your kid in a car. Same with pets like dogs. One woman around here left her little rat dog thing in the car last summer and it died. The Humane Society was all over her ass for that and made a big stink on the news.

Hi,
What is the outcome of this case? I stumbled across this story and it really hit home. I too live in the midwest and although Ohio has no law, I ran into a store very briefly and was charged with child endangerment. My children were 4 and 6 and although not asleep, tired from playing as we had played tag and strolled around in the beautiful botanical gardens. The temp was 60-65 degrees (Oct weather)and I locked my door, the car was not running. The town has 5300 people total. I have NEVER done anything illegal in my entire life! Never tried drugs, I didn't even try alcohol until I was 21 (which is overrated IMHO, I can't stand it)! Yet there I was with tears streaming down my cheeks while this officer stated 3 times that he could take me away to jail and call my husband (who was at work) to get my children.

I am a Registered Nurse. My entire occupation has centered around children. I've been a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurse and a very good one at that. I love what I do and yet, with this charge, if convicted, I would lose my nursing license and part of my identity. My husband and I had recently attended hours of training and endless paperwork to become foster parents as we'd hoped to adopt a child in need.

We weren't hoping for a 'perfect' child. Race didn't matter, we'd hoped for a school aged child which by the way are in dire need to homes, as many people want to adopt infants. I'd had my eye on a wonderful little girl with cerebral palsy that is in the adoption photolisting.

The prosecutor made it just perfect for him in that he stated he would do everything he could to get me convicted unless I would plead no contest to a minor misdemeanor of disorderly conduct instead. I still have no idea how that charge is a lower form of the former charge. He even stated at one point that if there was a case to be dismissed it would be this one, then said, "but I DON'T dismiss cases."

I felt like I had to plead no contest to the disorderly conduct, which I later found out is the same as being intoxicated in public or possessing a certain amount of marijuana. To be a foster parent, having a conviction of drugs is OK, even a DUI is OK, but if you run into a store for minutes and leave 2 well behaved kids in a cool locked care, your dream is over.

The officer stated in his report that my children "did not appear to be in distress and in fact were smiling and looked happy"

Thankfully, my nursing license is safe as the Board quickly closed the case, yet we don't know about our ability to foster/adopt (most likely not). My heart has been shattered as is my faith in humanity. The woman who called the police the second I stepped out of my minivan could have certainly spoken to me, yet she stayed and stared at me smiling while I cried hysterically. I'll never forget seeing her watching me.

Like this suburban mom's children, my children are also fearful of policemen. My son used to proudly announce that he wanted to be a police officer, but no more.

I do hope that the outcome was positive for this mother. I have requested permission from the police department which arrested me (but did not take me to jail BTW) to educate the public about leaving kids in a car in that they will face serious consequences, but my request has been unanswered. My guess is that this is how this particular small town makes a partial income, by arresting unsuspecting citizens and collecting fines from them.

We are considering moving 2500 miles back to where we previously lived. It's toxic for me to be near this town with the horrendous memories.

Anyhow,
thanks for letting me vent

I am mystified by the fact that this is even a debate. It is every parent's right to make decisions about the general welfare of their children. It is not the public's right to do so, except in the most obvious cases (i.e., a child in a car on a warm day where just the fact of being in the car is dangerous in and of itself.). You can't say that this woman endangered her child. Sure, someone could have tried to break into her locked and alarmed car right there in the loading zone of the wal mart with a cop car apparently parked right behind it and people coming and going... but seriously, I think that most thieves, while probably not the brightest bulbs in the pack, are a little smarter than THAT and would be more likely to hit the cars around the corner where there are less people. A meteor could fall on the car... or the mom... who's safer? Umm... a car COULD slide into it, but then the car could also slide into the people standing by the Salvation Army guy and the kid would be much safer from that in the car. Besides, how fast is a car travelling, assuming it's not a bank robber or something trying to escape through the Wal Mart parking lot?

The officer needed to respectfully discuss the situation with the woman. Not confront her with how angry she is. It's hard to say what motivation this officer was operating under, but it clearly was not the safety and well being of this particular child. I am tired of living in a society that continues to try to remove all risk from life. Walking across a street is risky. Opening your door when someone knocks is risky. Life is risky. People have to be able to use their own judgement though. And except in the case of major 'duh' moments, society should leave them to it. If it were a hot or even warm day, I would see this situation slightly differently (as I suspect the mom would have). But it was not. It was cold and the kid was asleep and the mother wanted to get a picture of her kids doing a good deed. She parked where she could keep an eye on the car. She locked it. Alarmed it. And she was RIGHT THERE. Nothing was going to happen in that situation that wouldn't be an absolutely freakish occurrence. And you can't live your life in fear of EVERYTHING.

The police department should apologize and police officers should visit those children and apologize very sweetly to them so that they do not have that fear of police. Sadly, the police department is probably too worried about a law suit to do the right thing (which is a whole other issue in itself). Wal Mart should pressure the police to do the right thing by using their lawyers to the benefit of Mrs. Coyne. THey should be appaled at the treatment experienced on their property by someone whom they probably invited to be there. But they won't say anything either because they are afraid of a lawsuit, too.

It's all so sad that these organizations are trying to protect their own butts and remain silent while a family is left to deal with the emotional upheaval that all this has caused them.

Lot of judgemental people in this thread.

We don't even have all of the facts, but we do have some.

They said she was 8 ft away? Right? So probably yes, she pulled up to the curb. Then she locked the doors. So, no chance of the car being stolen or the baby being stolen.

It was cold outside. Sleeting. So the car would be much warmer, being the heat was probably just on, than it would have been to take the baby outside. No chance at dehydrating the baby, and probably made the baby more comfortable.

So to all the people here judging this woman:

You think babies can never be left alone? I agree, if she went inside and shopped for half an hour that would have been irresponsible.

She made a choice, and not a terrible one in my eyes, that the baby would be more comfortable in the car. Do you really think you have the right to judge her on that decision?

Why didn't the woman just answer the officer's questions.

If she'd have just cooperated, the cop would probably have gone on his merry way.

But, if he sees a situation that might constitute a violation of the law and the presumed perpetrator remains silent, which is her right, she is subject to arrest.

Do people have a rational reason to expect that if they are suspected of a violation and refuse to speak to the police that they will just throw their hands in the air and leave?

It's easy to fault the cop, when all that is known is the woman's story, which in many ways sounds somewhat contrived.

[edit on 2008/3/13 by GradyPhilpott]

I meant about the cop going on her merry way, Grady. That you don't know. I know I always strike up a convo with suspicious-minded cops. Eases the tention. But, when a cop has a tough shift in a Wal-Mart at Christmas time, I doubt they have a great attitude.
I think I would of just shut up too. In this day and age, giving the wrong answer is almost begging to be tazed.

Peace,
Cuhail

Originally posted by Cuhail

I meant about the cop going on her merry way, Grady.

That's why I used the words "would probably."



[edit on 2008/3/13 by GradyPhilpott]