One year in prison. This is what an American mother risks for having let her ten-year-old boy go alone to the village, in the middle of the countryside. On October 30, while Brittany Patterson was at the doctor’s office with one of her other children, her son Soren left her home in Mineral Bluff, Georgia, and drove to the village, about a mile away. The local police then called her to tell her the news. “This stretch of road is not dangerous at all. I wasn’t worried about her safety,” the American explains to NBC News.
Brought home by police, Soren apologized for communicating poorly with his mother. Brittany thought the story would end there, but law enforcement returned a few hours later and handcuffed her, charging her with negligence. Arrested in front of her children, the mother had to put on an orange jumpsuit before being incarcerated. She was released on $500 bail.
Authorities are willing to drop charges against Brittany if she signs a “safety plan,” which would require her to ensure her children are under constant supervision. The American categorically refuses to do so and intends to contest her indictment, which could earn her up to a year in prison. “It’s not fair, I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m going to fight against that,” she says. “Are all parents going to have to put a GPS on their child? It’s up to the parents to decide for their offspring, unless it is unreasonably dangerous,” protests David DeLugas, Brittany’s lawyer.
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