Mom arrested after driving off with baby balanced on the roof of her car.
Image: via Shutterstock
We all have moments of forgetfulness, especially when we’re tired, but there’s just no good excuse for forgetting your kid is sitting in his car seat balanced on the roof of your car and driving off. Unless you’ve been smoking dope. That’s what this mom did, and now she’s in custody facing assault and child abuse charges, according to Reuters.
"Joint" custody?
The 19-year-old mom from Phoenix, Arizona, had been smoking dope in a park, when she travelled with her boyfriend and 5-week-old baby in order to buy more beer. Her boyfriend was pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence. She claims she was in such shock at her boyfriend’s arrest, that she went to a friend’s house where she “admittedly smoked one or two additional bowls of marijuana”.
That would be bad enough, but the negligent mom then climbed into her car and drove off, forgetting that her tiny baby was strapped into his car seat which was balanced on the roof of her Ford Focus.
Before you get too upset, despite the chair containing the baby falling off at an intersection, he was unharmed.
The heavily-stoned mom apparently didn’t realise her baby wasn’t around until she reached home. Witnesses had identified her to cops, and, when she retraced her steps, she admitted what she had done.
Parenting comes first
How irresponsible do you have to be? Two arrests in one night for two adults driving with the same baby! As much as many parents claim to be able to manage some dope-smoking when parenting with no ill-effects on their kids, it is clear that some parents should abstain. Of course, there was alcohol involved too, so the combination may have also dulled their sense of responsibility.
It’s remarkable that the baby was unharmed when falling from the car, but that can’t possibly excuse this dope-smoking mom from facing charges and the possible loss of her rights to parent.
What’s to blame for this shocking chain of events?
By: Scott Dunlop