TWO UNNAMED CHILDREN - 2 and 5 yo/ Accused: Mother; Zecole Thomas - Milton GA

Milton mom charged with leaving kids in hot car


MILTON, Ga. —
A Milton woman is facing charges after police said she left her two young children in a hot car while she went shopping.

Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik spoke with Zecole Thomas to hear her side of the story Wednesday.

“Jesus Christ, I would never do anything to harm my children. Never, ever, ever,” Thomas told Petchenik.
Alpharetta police booked her into the Fulton County Jail Tuesday after finding her children in the back seat with her car off. She said she never thought leaving her 2- and 5-year-old children for about 10 minutes would land her in jail. “I was not trying to suffocate my kids. The windows were open,” she said.
She said her kids had fallen asleep in the car after a morning of playing, so she didn’t want to wake them up. She ran into the Jo-Ann Fabrics store near North Point Mall for sewing supplies and returned to find officers at her car.
“They just kept yelling at me and calling me dumb and stupid, and I was like, ‘What are you talking about?” she said. She was charged with two counts of reckless conduct. “They were like, ‘I don't care if it's 10 seconds, you're going to jail,’" Thomas said. But she said the worst part of the ordeal was having her children taken from her. “I adore my children. Anything I do is for my children,” Thomas said. She was released from jail on a $3,000 bond. The children are now with their father.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/milton-mom-charged-leaving-kids-hot-car/nP3zF/

I can understand the mother but kids die in cars all to often. It only takes 10-15 minutes in a hot car and they are gone. Little Eva in Australia went looking for a lollipop in her grand dads car and it only took 10-15 minutes. She never recovered.

In my town I saw a mother leave her two kids in the back seat to go into a gas station for snacks. The windows were barely cracked open and the car was locked and off. It was 105 degrees. Those kids would have died in 15-20 minutes.

No child should be left in a car unattended.

William

Hot or cold or perfectly comfortable I would NEVER leave a 2 year old and 5 year old in the car alone. I don't like leaving my almost 10 year old with my 2 year old alone to run back into the house with the car still running if I forget something in the morning. This woman is an idiot! She definately needs some education, parenting classes, something... I'm not sure if you can fix stupid though!

Cops: Mom left boys, 5 and 2, in locked SUV in 92-degree weather to go shopping

July 26, 2012
By: Kimathi Lewis

A Milton mother of two was arrested Tuesday after her young boys were found locked in a SUV in 92-degree weather while she went shopping in Alpharetta, police said.

Still, the mother said she wasn’t gone that long and accused the officers of being racist for arresting her.

The investigation began around 3:40 p.m. Tuesday when a concerned citizen stopped an Alpharetta police officer on routine patrol in the Jo-Ann Fabrics store complex and asked him to check on the black Honda Pilot with two children left alone in the car.

The officer found the locked car with all the windows closed, except for a rear passenger window that was cracked open less than a half inch in the complex at 965 North Point Drive, according to the police report.

"As I looked inside the vehicle, I could see two children crying inside," the officer said.

The boys, 5 and 2, were sweating profusely, the report said.

The officer was able to speak to the older boy and attempted to get him to unlock the door. But the boy refused to open the door to a stranger, the report said.

The officer called the fire department for assistance while another officer went inside the fabric store where the boy said his mother was shopping.

A short time later, the other officer managed to convince and then coached the older son on opening the door by unlocking the lock and using the door handle, the report said.

"As I picked up both children from inside the SUV, both children were sweating profusely and both children's shirts and shorts were soaking wet with sweat."

The officer placed them in the patrol car, placed the air conditioning on maximum power and contacted dispatch who confirmed the temperature was 92 degrees.

The second officer returned with the children's mother, Mrs. Zecole Thomas.

The 29-year-old woman told the officer she didn't think it was a big deal since she was only gone for 10 minutes, the report said. But the officer disagreed. He had been on the scene for more than 10 minutes, he said.

When asked why she left them in the car in 92-degree weather, she told them the children were asleep when she arrived at the store and didn't want to wake them, the report said.

She just went inside to buy a spool of thread, she said.

Then the officer told her she was under arrest, charging her with two counts of reckless conduct.

"She became upset and called me a racist, stating the only reason I was taking her to jail was because she was black,” the officer said.

"I advised Thomas that the reason she was going to jail was because she left her two children unattended in a hot vehicle, in 92 degree weather, which could have caused major injuries to both children.”

The woman was taken to the Fulton County jail and the children turned over to their father.

After spending the night in jail, Mrs. Thomas was released after posting $2,000 bond, according to jail records.

In an interview with Channel 2 Action News, Mrs. Thomas insisted she was only gone for about 10 minutes.

"I would never do anything to harm my children," an emotional Mrs. Thomas told the news station. "I was not trying to suffocate my children. The windows were open."

http://www.examiner.com/article/cops-mom-left-boys-5-and-2-locked-car-92-degree-weather-to-go-shopping

This makes me so angry... going by her logic, I can understand NOT wanting to wake up small children from a short nap before going into a public place. But use some common sense, what happens when your kids wake up and you're not there? Panic sets in! Or worse, what if your kids never wake up because they die from your dumb, selfish decision? Racist my ass... that's another thing that pisses me off. I hate when people pull the race card in instances like this. I think it takes away from the seriousness of true racism.