A single mom was charged in July after letting her son play unsupervised at a neighborhood park.
Turns out, thats not much of a crime.
Florida officials dropped a charge of child neglect against Nicole Gainey, a Port St. Lucie resident.
The arrest sparked outrage and concern over the proper role of police and government agencies when it comes to such parental decisions an area without express legal protection.
The question is: Whos the parent? The police or the mother? John W. Whitehead, Gaineys attorney, told Watchdog.org several days after the arrest.
Whitehead says cooler heads have prevailed.
All is not lost as long as there are government officials willing to work through issues in a reasonable manner, exhibiting compassion and common sense and recognizing that there are better ways to deal with concerns about child safety than criminalizing parents, he said in a statement.
Gainey routinely allowed her 7-year-old son, Dominic, to ride his bicycle half a mile from home to Sportsman Park. She also makes him wear a cell phone around his neck, according to Whitehead. Prosecutors would have had to establish the childs needs werent adequately arranged before he left to play.
What this incident shows is that keeping young people safe and a parents ability to know whats appropriate for their children are not mutually exclusive goals, Whitehead said.
Gainey was arrested after a bystander called the authorities after noticing Dominic was at the park alone. She was then handcuffed -- in front of the boy -- and taken to a local jail, where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed and held for seven hours. Dominic stayed with Gaineys boyfriend.
Im totally dumbfounded by this whole situation, Gainey told WPTV, a local news station.
Comments on the stations Facebook page mostly support her, but some dont.
When I was that age I went everywhere on my bike. I give her credit for letting the kid out of the house and not sticking him in front of a video game, wrote Nancy Canonico-Guarnieri.
Not illegal but these are different times, a lot of sick people in the world. Id say exercise more caution, wrote Richard Gasbarro.
Similar incidents have occurred recently in other states, including a South Carolina mother arrested at work for letting her 9-year-old play unattended at a nearby park. In August, a mother of four was arrested in Winter Haven after leaving her children to shop for groceries at a local food bank. But, in that instance, police responded after one of the children became stuck in a swing.
According to the National Parents Rights Association, theres no legal age minimum in which a child can or cannot play outside alone. Police and government agencies work on a case-by-case basis.
Personally, I believe that leaving a 7-year-old alone, even at a park half a mile away, is putting him in a risky situation. Do I think its a felony? No. It might be poor decision-making, but it deserves a warning at best, Karen Wagner, executive director of the Georgia-based advocacy group, previously told Watchdog.org.
Whitehead blames the government for acting as if it can do a better job of managing our lives than we can, and noted Gaineys son rides his bicycle two miles to school along the same route.
William Patrick covers government waste, fraud and abuse for Watchdog.org's Florida bureau. His work has appeared on numerous media websites, including Fox News and the Drudge Report.wpatrick@watchdog.org
