Police arrested a mother in Georgia on Oct. 30 after her 11-year-old son walked into a town less than a mile from her home, according to reports.
Fannin County Sheriff’s Office says Brittany Patterson, a mother of four, was handcuffed, fingerprinted and photographed by police during a dinner at her home before being photographed in an orange jumpsuit. He said he was wearing a suit. reasonLibertarian Publications. A female sheriff reportedly found her son, Soren, walking in downtown Mineral Bluff without an adult.
Mother sentenced to prison for letting her 10-year-old child walk alone into town https://t.co/9ORvKPkfWx via @reason
parentsUSA is defending this mother against criminal charges. . . That’s because her son, who was about to turn 11 in a few days, was walking at breakneck speed along the road into the town of 370 people.
— Parents USA (@NatlAssnParents) November 12, 2024
The newspaper said Patterson initially thought her son was playing in the woods when he was away at home attending to other children. The 11-year-old was already walking in a nearby town of just 370 people when a woman spotted him and called police.
Before Patterson returned home, a female sheriff took Soren back to his grandfather, Reason reported. (Related: Federal authorities raid Trump-supporting farmers and businessmen)
Patterson’s family lives on 16 acres with her children and father.
“The mentality here is like free range,” she told the outlet.
“I didn’t panic because I knew the path and knew he was old enough to walk there without any problems,” his mother said. The sheriff disagreed.
The female deputy arrived at Patterson’s front door with another police officer around 6:30 p.m., the paper said. Officers ordered the mother to put her hands behind her back and handcuff her, Reason reported.
“She kept saying he could have been run over, he could have been kidnapped, ‘anything’ could have happened,” Patterson told the outlet.
Patterson was released the next day on $500 bail, the newspaper reported. Reason said a case manager from the Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) inspected her home, met with her eldest son at his school and presented the mother with a “safety plan.”
DFCS’s “safety plan” reportedly required Patterson to delegate a “safety officer” to watch over the children whenever she left the house. The newspaper also said it asked her to download an app to monitor Soren’s location, but she refused.
After contacting a lawyer, the mother made it clear, “I will not sign,” according to Reason.
