If you leave your car running and unlocked outside a liquor store, you’re an idiot. If you leave elementary school kids in the unlocked running car outside the liquor store at night – you should get convicted of something. I would prefer neglect over abuse, but it depends on how the particular state law is written.
Something similar happened here. A woman ran inside a Target leaving the car running with a couple of kids strapped in the back. Thief stole car. Dropped car off and called the cops as soon as he noticed the kids. I don’t know if the woman parent was charged in this case.
I’m ambivalent about this kind of thing. I’ve grown up in this town. I often ran with a pack of kids all over the neighborhood. Everybody locked their front doors but back doors were usually left unlocked. If I went to a friends house the bike was usually left on the front lawn. It bothers me that we’ve come to accept that things that aren’t tied down are going to be stolen. What ever happened to leaving stuff alone that doesn’t belong to you? I guess I have to live in the world that is instead of the world that used to be. But I can be sad that it’s gone.
December 21st, 2015 at 9:21 pm
If you leave your car running and unlocked outside a liquor store, you’re an idiot. If you leave elementary school kids in the unlocked running car outside the liquor store at night – you should get convicted of something. I would prefer neglect over abuse, but it depends on how the particular state law is written.
December 22nd, 2015 at 12:32 am
Something similar happened here. A woman ran inside a Target leaving the car running with a couple of kids strapped in the back. Thief stole car. Dropped car off and called the cops as soon as he noticed the kids. I don’t know if the woman parent was charged in this case.
I’m ambivalent about this kind of thing. I’ve grown up in this town. I often ran with a pack of kids all over the neighborhood. Everybody locked their front doors but back doors were usually left unlocked. If I went to a friends house the bike was usually left on the front lawn. It bothers me that we’ve come to accept that things that aren’t tied down are going to be stolen. What ever happened to leaving stuff alone that doesn’t belong to you? I guess I have to live in the world that is instead of the world that used to be. But I can be sad that it’s gone.
December 22nd, 2015 at 9:46 am
Ehh, it’s NJ. Freedom wasn’t born there, but it certainly died there.
December 22nd, 2015 at 9:42 pm
But if you’re a cop who leaves a loaded gun in the car and your kid shoots his little sister, no charges. No problem there……