The authorities have arrested a Georgia mother who has been accused of allegedly putting the life of her son in danger after she left her 10-year-old son unsupervised to walk less than a mile away from home.
Brittany Patterson, 41, had taken another son to a doctor on October 30, and she became mildly irritated but not at all worried when the Fannin County Sheriff’s Department called to say her 10-year-old boy Soren had strayed from their rural home in Mineral Bluff and into town.
It was disclosed that after a few hours, the sheriff’s department came back to the family’s home near the North Carolina border, where Patterson was handcuffed, arrested, booked for suspicion of reckless conduct and forced to post $500 bail.
While speaking on the arrest, she noted that it was full of anger and frustration as the children had to see the officials arrest her; she noted that the officials had asked her to put her hands on the back, which was the time she realized what was going on.
The authorities have indicated that they will drop all the charges against her if she agrees to sign a document which lists the safety plan guaranteeing that her children will always be under a watchful eye, the mother and her lawyer said.
After the statement, Patterson declined the request and refused to sign the document. She noted that she would contest the charges against her and take them up as she is willing to spend a year behind bars. She further claimed that the action taken was not right, claiming she did nothing wrong. She expressed her readiness to fight for it.
Patterson’s lawyer, David DeLugas, asked if mothers and fathers now have to know their children’s precise location at all times. The lawyer while speaking further, the lawyer asked if all parents were going to have to put GPS on their child?” he said. “The parents get to decide for their children unless it is unreasonably dangerous.
A rep for the district lawyer in Fannin County could not be instantly reached for comment on Thursday when contact was made.
