Nicole Gainey of Port St. Lucie, FL couldn't believe what caused her to be handcuffed by police officers. One Saturday afternoon, Gainey gave her 7-year-old son, Dominic, permission to walk from their home to the park.
"Honestly didn't think I was doing anything wrong," says Gainey, "I was letting him go play."
It's about a 10 to 15 minute walk to park. On his way, Dominic passed a public school. It was there that an adult stopped him to ask where his mother was.
"They asked me a couple questions, and I got scared, so I ran off to the park, and they called the cops," Dominic told CBS.
The officers asked him where he lived and took him home. Then they arrested Gainey and charged her with child neglect. It costs Gainey $4,000 to pay the bond.
"I'm totally dumbfounded by this whole situation," says Gainey.
The mother believes her son is old enough to go to the park alone. Dominic carries a cell phone with him so that they can be in contact with each other frequently. There is no law that specifies how old a child has to be to go somewhere unsupervised.
While she plans on fighting the felony charges, she will not let Dominic out alone for fear of being arrested again. Many parents have different opinions about what age is the right one, others feel it depends on the child. What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
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