Age to leave a child unattended in Walmart while the parent shops

[NOT]

As we don't know where this happened nor do we have both sides of the story I would remind everyone that with the growing problem of teenagers running wild in shopping malls etc. that several cities have passed local ordinances dealing with this exact situation.

That may have been the case here........

jray

Any child under ten is considered "unattended". But children 10 and older, it is considered "Unsupervised".
Whether it is in the car, Wal-mart or home.

Peyton

[under the age of ten years by the child's parent or legal guardian by leaving the minor child unattended and to his own care]

Good point JRAY.  

So the question is:  What city are we talking about?

3kidsmom wrote:
...  Thus, the laws that nick posted -- although NOT the laws about cars -- were the applicable ones.

You are correct 3kidsmom.  It is probably the second set of laws that I posted were the ones the police were acting on.

They are very vague and can be applied to fit most any situation.


Nurse Nancy:

Three cops !!!  That is a big response.  

There were probably other cops out looking for the other kid.

Before you talk her into trying to sue, we should also ascertain the nature and severity of the 'disturbance'.


Peyton:
What is the source for your ten year old break point between 'unattended' and 'unsupervised'.

The only two references I could find regarding the age of ten are:

RS 14:79.1
SUBPART D.  CRIMINAL ABANDONMENT

§79.1.  Criminal abandonment

A.  Criminal abandonment is any of the following:

(1)  The intentional physical abandonment of a minor child under the age of ten years by the child's parent or legal guardian by leaving the minor child unattended and to his own care when the evidence demonstrates that the child's parent or legal guardian did not intend to return to the minor child or provide for adult supervision of the minor child.

(2)  The intentional physical abandonment of an aged or disabled person by a caregiver as defined in R.S. 14:93.3 who is compensated for providing care to such person.  For the purpose of this Paragraph an aged person shall mean any individual who is sixty years of age or older.

B.  Whoever commits the crime of criminal abandonment shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.

Acts 1986, No. 368, §1; Acts 2008, No. 177, §1, eff. June 12, 2008.

and this one

RS 14:93.2.1

§93.2.1.  Child desertion

A.  Child desertion is the intentional or criminally negligent exposure of a child under the age of ten years, by a person who has the care, custody, or control of the child, to a hazard or danger against which the child cannot reasonably be expected to protect himself, or the desertion or abandonment of such child, knowing or having reason to believe that the child could be exposed to such hazard or danger.

B.(1)  Whoever commits the crime of child desertion shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned for not more than six months, or both.

(2)  On a second and subsequent conviction, the offender shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars and imprisoned for not less than thirty days nor more than six months, at least thirty days of which shall be without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence.

Acts 1986, No. 370, §1; Acts 2003, No. 168, §1.

Nicholas James

Ok, lets just keep beating this dead horse with a stick.

When I first read this thread I was in disbelief. I thought the poster was yanking our chain because the story is just unbelievable.

However, taking the poster's story FOR IT'S WORD and assumming the story to be TRUE...the innocent boy was doing NOTHING but QUIETLY reading a book.

With that in mind, hell yeah I'd sue. I stand by that. If that were to happen to one of my children, there'd be hell to pay.

NurseNancy

To touch on something JRay mentioned.  One of the Malls in the New Orleans area has a rule where children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult on certain nights of the week.

http://www.clearviewmall.com/html/mallrules.html

singledad

[everyone]

You don't state what time it was. Don't forget that we had a curfew in place for everyone after the hurricanes. I think there is still a curfew (9:00 p.m.) for persons under the age of 17 and that they cannot be outside of their domicile without a parent or guardian.

50something2

I definitely agree with your statement. In that age, parents should not leave there children while shopping. The parents should aware of this regulation.

Acelim

I just have to ask if anyone considered if that were an actual law, how many teenage drivers, 16yr+ driving up and down public roads, etc would be in trouble. If they are issued drivers licences, it would be expected they are going to be alone. I would imagine as long as the guardian or parent have knowledge that where their kids are or should be, then there isn't a problem. The cops laying down a 15yr kid on the floor that was merly reading a book, is hardly someone that is in hot pursuit evading capture. Just think about it. The driver's license. Seriously. I would have told the cops to get bent and gave the chief a huge earfull for sure. Sueing....well I don't see where there was actual harm done or intent of harm, so I'm failing to see a tort of any kind.

MajGreg

[My life has been crazier than a work of fiction.....who'da believed?]

ah, people who don't see the issue should come to my wal-mart, where Friday is date night and they have to triple the number of rent-a-cops just to keep the theft down to a dull roar. I have stood and watched these "kids" many of whom are bigger than me walk out the doorway each carrying a 2 liter of soda -- the guys with their pants full of candies and cakes -- on their way to the movies right down the mall.......

oh yeah. there's a REASON for these laws.

3kidsmom

[NOT]

"I would imagine as long as the guardian or parent have knowledge that where their kids are or should be, then there isn't a problem. The cops laying down a 15yr kid on the floor that was merly reading a book, is hardly someone that is in hot pursuit evading capture.

" The problem here is that there are so many things we don't know about what actually happened...

We don't know why the police were looking for someone fitting the kids description, we don't know what the kid may have said or done when the police questioned him (teenagers can have a very smart mouth on them), we don't know if there is some local ordinance covering this situation (instead of state law).

As for parents knowing where their teenagers are and who they are with...I can tell you from many experiences while working in law enforcement that the streets are full of minors at night and the parents have no clue as to where they are or what they are doing nor do they really care

jray