A Georgia mom has been arrested after letting her 10-year-old son wander into a town less than a mile from their home.
Brittany Patterson, 41, was detained by the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office on October 30 for reckless conduct after police found her son walking by himself, NBC News reports. She has since been released after posting $500 bail.
Patterson received a phone call from Fannin County deputies while taking her other son to a doctor’s appointment. They said her son, Soren, was found walking on the side of the highway.
Soren, who is now 11, told police he did not need help and that he wasn’t in school because he was home-schooled, local outlet 11Alive reports. Soren’s grandfather was also at home while Patterson and Soren’s sibling went to the doctor.
“It’s not a super dangerous or even dangerous-at-all stretch of road,” Patterson told NBC News. “I wasn’t terrified for him or scared for his safety.”
After deputies drove Soren home, Patterson thought the ordeal was over. But a few hours later, officers showed up at her house and arrested her.
“It was anger and frustration, of course, because my children were having to witness that all,” she told NBC News. “They asked me to put my hands behind my back and all that stuff, and I realized what was going on.”
According to the incident report reviewed by 11Alive, Patterson “found [the situation] to be a laughing matter, and [Brittany] could not comprehend why this was a serious issue.”
Officers told Patterson they would drop the reckless conduct charge if she signed a form outlining a safety plan and promising her kids would be closely watched, NBC News reports.
Patterson is going to fight the charge, which carries a maximum sentence of one year behind bars.
“This is not right. I did nothing wrong,” she said. “I’m going to fight for that.”
Patterson’s attorney, David DeLugas, said parents should decide what their children do “unless it is unreasonable dangerous.”
“Are all parents going to have to put GPS on their child?” he told NBC News.
The National Association of Parents, an organization that advocates for “parents’ rights to raise their child as they see fit,” has launched a GoFundMe to “help defend Brit.”
The GoFundMe has raised more than $45,000 as of November 15.
