Available at 
Tweet
What do you think?
Mom Faces Trial for Leaving Child in Car
By DON BABWIN,
AP
Posted: 2008-03-12 18:05:10
Filed Under: Crime News, Nation News
CHICAGO (March 11) - Treffly Coyne
was out of her car for just minutes and no
more than 10 yards away.
But that was long and far enough to land
her in court after a police officer spotted
her sleeping 2-year-old daughter alone in
the vehicle; Coyne had taken her two
older daughters to pour $8.29 in coins
into a Salvation Army kettle.
Minutes later, she was under arrest - the
focus of both a police investigation and a
probe by the state’s child welfare agency.
Now the case that has become an
Internet flash point for people who either
blast police for overstepping their
authority or Coyne for putting a child in
danger.
The 36-year-old suburban mother is
preparing to go on trial Thursday on
misdemeanor charges of child
endangerment and obstructing a peace
officer. If convicted, she could be
sentenced to a year in jail and fined
$2,500, even though child welfare
workers found no credible evidence of
abuse or neglect.
On Dec. 8 Coyne decided to drive to Wal-
Mart in the Chicago suburb of Crestwood
so her children and a young friend could
donate the coins they’d collected at her
husband’s office.
Even as she buckled 2-year-old Phoebe
into the car, the girl was asleep. When
Coyne arrived at the store, she found a
spot to park in a loading zone, right
behind someone tying a Christmas tree
onto a car.
“It’s sleeting out, it’s not pleasant, I don’t
want to disturb her, wake her up,” Coyne
said this week. “It was safer to leave her
in the safety and warmth of an alarmed
car than take her.”
So Coyne switched on the emergency
flashers, locked the car, activated the
alarm and walked the other children to the
bell ringer.
She snapped a few pictures of the girls
donating money and headed back to the
car. But a community service officer
blocked her way.
“She was on a tirade, she was yelling at
me,” Coyne said. The officer, Coyne said,
didn’t want to hear about how close
Coyne was, how she never set foot inside
the store and was just there to let the kids
donate money, or how she could always
see her car.
Coyne telephoned her husband, Tim
Janecyk, who advised her not to say
anything else to police until he arrived. So
Coyne declined to talk further, refusing
even to tell police her child’s name.
When Janecyk pulled up, his wife already
was handcuffed, sitting in a patrol car.
Crestwood Police Chief Timothy
Sulikowski declined to comment about the
case. But he did not dispute the
contention that Coyne parked nearby or
was away from her car for just a few
minutes.
He did, however, suggest Coyne put her
child at risk.
“A minute or two, that’s when things can
happen,” he said.
Talk about the case has intensified,
particularly online, where bloggers are
weighing in on various message boards.
Many have harsh words for the police
department, calling the arrest of a mother
who left her child in a locked car for a few
minutes an abuse of authority.
Yet statistics show thousands of children
are injured and dozens die every year
after being left unattended near or inside
vehicles.
“I am talking tens of thousands of people
who leave their kids in the car for any
period of time all around America,” said
Janette Fennell, founder and president of
Kansas-based Kids and Cars. “People
don’t appreciate the dangers of leaving a
child alone in the car.”
Coyne’s attorney, Michelle Forbes,
argued that Coyne did not break the law
any more than a mother who parks in
front of a school in a rainstorm and leaves
an infant in the car as she runs a few feet
to pick up another child.
“As long as the car is not out of her sight,
then the child is not unattended,” she
said.
Cars with children inside have been
stolen while the owners stepped inside
service stations to pay for gas, Fennell
said. Children sitting in cars have choked
on things they stuck in their mouths. On
Tuesday in Houston, after a woman got
out of her car to walk across the street to
talk to someone, her toddler was killed
after he climbed out and tried to follow
her.
“That child was also 2,” Fennell said,
referring to Coyne’s daughter.
Coyne and her husband believe she is
unfairly being lumped in with parents who
put their children’s lives at risk.
“If I were going on a shopping spree then,
yes, I would deserve arrest,” Coyne said.
“I was standing right there. I never went
into the store.
“I’m a great parent.”
Mom Faces Trial for Leaving Child in Car
By DON BABWIN,
AP
Posted: 2008-03-12 18:05:10
Filed Under: Crime News, Nation News
CHICAGO (March 11) - Treffly Coyne
was out of her car for just minutes and no
more than 10 yards away.
But that was long and far enough to land
her in court after a police officer spotted
her sleeping 2-year-old daughter alone in
the vehicle; Coyne had taken her two
older daughters to pour $8.29 in coins
into a Salvation Army kettle.
Minutes later, she was under arrest - the
focus of both a police investigation and a
probe by the state’s child welfare agency.
Now the case that has become an
Internet flash point for people who either
blast police for overstepping their
authority or Coyne for putting a child in
danger.
The 36-year-old suburban mother is
preparing to go on trial Thursday on
misdemeanor charges of child
endangerment and obstructing a peace
officer. If convicted, she could be
sentenced to a year in jail and fined
$2,500, even though child welfare
workers found no credible evidence of
abuse or neglect.
On Dec. 8 Coyne decided to drive to Wal-
Mart in the Chicago suburb of Crestwood
so her children and a young friend could
donate the coins they’d collected at her
husband’s office.
Even as she buckled 2-year-old Phoebe
into the car, the girl was asleep. When
Coyne arrived at the store, she found a
spot to park in a loading zone, right
behind someone tying a Christmas tree
onto a car.
“It’s sleeting out, it’s not pleasant, I don’t
want to disturb her, wake her up,” Coyne
said this week. “It was safer to leave her
in the safety and warmth of an alarmed
car than take her.”
So Coyne switched on the emergency
flashers, locked the car, activated the
alarm and walked the other children to the
bell ringer.
She snapped a few pictures of the girls
donating money and headed back to the
car. But a community service officer
blocked her way.
“She was on a tirade, she was yelling at
me,” Coyne said. The officer, Coyne said,
didn’t want to hear about how close
Coyne was, how she never set foot inside
the store and was just there to let the kids
donate money, or how she could always
see her car.
Coyne telephoned her husband, Tim
Janecyk, who advised her not to say
anything else to police until he arrived. So
Coyne declined to talk further, refusing
even to tell police her child’s name.
When Janecyk pulled up, his wife already
was handcuffed, sitting in a patrol car.
Crestwood Police Chief Timothy
Sulikowski declined to comment about the
case. But he did not dispute the
contention that Coyne parked nearby or
was away from her car for just a few
minutes.
He did, however, suggest Coyne put her
child at risk.
“A minute or two, that’s when things can
happen,” he said.
Talk about the case has intensified,
particularly online, where bloggers are
weighing in on various message boards.
Many have harsh words for the police
department, calling the arrest of a mother
who left her child in a locked car for a few
minutes an abuse of authority.
Yet statistics show thousands of children
are injured and dozens die every year
after being left unattended near or inside
vehicles.
“I am talking tens of thousands of people
who leave their kids in the car for any
period of time all around America,” said
Janette Fennell, founder and president of
Kansas-based Kids and Cars. “People
don’t appreciate the dangers of leaving a
child alone in the car.”
Coyne’s attorney, Michelle Forbes,
argued that Coyne did not break the law
any more than a mother who parks in
front of a school in a rainstorm and leaves
an infant in the car as she runs a few feet
to pick up another child.
“As long as the car is not out of her sight,
then the child is not unattended,” she
said.
Cars with children inside have been
stolen while the owners stepped inside
service stations to pay for gas, Fennell
said. Children sitting in cars have choked
on things they stuck in their mouths. On
Tuesday in Houston, after a woman got
out of her car to walk across the street to
talk to someone, her toddler was killed
after he climbed out and tried to follow
her.
“That child was also 2,” Fennell said,
referring to Coyne’s daughter.
Coyne and her husband believe she is
unfairly being lumped in with parents who
put their children’s lives at risk.
“If I were going on a shopping spree then,
yes, I would deserve arrest,” Coyne said.
“I was standing right there. I never went
into the store.
“I’m a great parent.”
Sometimes I'll leave DS in the car (with the engine running) if I have to return a book to the library. The outside drop box is right outside the door and super-close to the parking lot, it probably takes me less than 30 seconds to run there and back to the car. Maybe I shouldn't do that anymore...? :huh:
Comment