A mother of four was handcuffed in front of her children and taken to jail after she allowed her 11-year-old son to walk less than a mile to a small town.
Brittany Patterson went to take her oldest son to a doctor’s appointment on Oct. 30, and her youngest son, Soren, 11, was supposed to accompany her, but he wasn’t present when it was time to leave. Reason Magazine Reports.
She had thought he was simply playing in the woods or visiting his grandmother, Patterson told the outlet, noting that his father lives with them and his mother and sisters live just two minutes away.
But as it turned out, Soren decided to walk to the center of Mineral Bluff, a town of just 370 people that’s less than a mile from his house.
He was seen along the road by a woman who asked him if he was okay, and although he responded yes, the woman called the police, the magazine reports.
Brittany Patterson was handcuffed in front of her children and taken to jail after her son walked less than a mile to a small town.
A sheriff’s deputy then picked up the boy and called Patterson.
“She asked me if I knew he was at the center and I told her no,” the mother said.
She said she was upset that Soren had gone to town without telling anyone, but she didn’t think there was any reason to worry.
“I didn’t panic because I know the roads and I know he’s mature enough to walk there without incident,” Patterson said of the street having a speed limit of up to 35 mph.
The officer, however, “kept mentioning that he could have been run over, kidnapped or ‘anything’ could have happened,” Patterson said.
The agent eventually took Soren home and left him with his grandfather.
When Patterson finally returned home, he scolded his son for his actions, which he thought was the end of his problems.
But around 6:30 p.m. that night, the officer showed up with another officer, handcuffed Patterson and took her to jail, where she was fingerprinted, had her mugshot taken, and was put in jail gear. according to an online fundraiser organized for his legal bills.
He said he didn’t understand what was going on, as he had grown up in the area with unsupervised time to roam and play, and was raising his children that way as well.
Patterson has been raising her children with unsupervised time to walk and play.
The town of Mineral Bluff, Georgia, has only 370 residents and the road leading to it has a maximum speed limit of 35 mph.
Patterson was eventually released on $500 bail, but her troubles didn’t end there.
The next day, a case manager from the Division of Family and Children Services came to her home for a home visit and even interviewed Patterson’s oldest son at his school.
The case manager told Patterson that everything seemed fine, he told Reason magazine, but a few days later, the Division of Family and Children Services presented him with a “safety plan” for him to sign.
It would require her to delegate a “security person” to be an “informed participant and guardian” and watch the children whenever she leaves the house.
The plan would also require Patterson to download an app on Soren’s cell phone to monitor her location, something she has refused to do.
Instead, she contacted attorney David DeLugas, director of ParentsUSA, a nonprofit that provides free legal help to parents arrested and wrongfully prosecuted for child neglect.
Patterson now faces a charge of reckless conduct, a $1,000 fine and a year in jail after refusing to download a tracking app on her son’s phone.
An assistant district attorney has since told DeLugas that if Patterson sang the security plan, criminal charges against him would be dropped.
But DeLugas responded by saying that if Patterson were forced to sign a safety plan just because her son was walking somewhere without her knowing his exact location, she would be prevented from visiting friends or having any independence.
Still, the deputy prosecutor maintained that Soren had been in danger and that a safety plan was therefore necessary.
He now faces a charge of reckless conduct, a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.
