Summary

Brittany Patterson, 41, was shocked to face a criminal charge for alleged reckless conduct when her unsupervised 10-year-old son walked less than a mile from their home.

Although authorities offered to drop the charge if she agreed to always supervise her children, Patterson refuses to sign, insisting she did nothing wrong and will fight the charge, which could lead to up to a year in jail.

Her lawyer argues that parents should have discretion over their children’s whereabouts, questioning if constant GPS tracking is now expected. Patterson was released on $500 bail.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        29
        ·
        7 days ago

        They could have lived in a city that straddles a state boundary. Crossing to a different city/state could be done measured a matter of meters/yards.

        • catloaf@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          10
          ·
          7 days ago

          At the Four Corners, they could be in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, or Utah in a single step.

          More realistically, if you were in NYC, you could hop a train and be in CT, NJ, or PA for a day trip. Or even further, if you started early enough.

          • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            14
            ·
            7 days ago

            I was thinking something like this where you can be TOTALLY INSIDE ONE SMALL BUILDING and be in two different cities/states.

            The left side of gas station (QuickTrip) is Kansas City, Kansas. The right side of the gas station is Kansas City, Missouri. So cross state lines going from the chip aisle to the soda refrigerators.

            • Psychogasm@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              7 days ago

              Yeah, would pass through Misery for my lunch breaks to get to this Quick-Trip. Too bad they had Kansas taxes. Cigarettes were hella high.

            • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              7 days ago

              How the hell does this work employment wise? Are employees working in Kansas or Missouri and which state collects taxes? Probably not as big of an issue there, but in my state we have things like income tax while our neighbors don’t, which would make situations like this incredibly confusing.

              • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                8
                ·
                7 days ago

                Just a guess, the mailing address probably specifies which state’s rules its under. Police enforcement might be interesting though.

              • hyves@feddit.nl
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                5 days ago

                In Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog, which is essentially one village split between the Netherlands and Belgium in the messiest way possible, I think it’s based on where the front door is

            • catloaf@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              7 days ago

              Google Maps boundaries aren’t the most accurate. You can look up property records for KCMO and see it’s almost entirely inside KCMO (though it does span multiple parcels).

              What’s more interesting is that while the building is in KCMO, the address of the gas pump canopy is in KCK. I’m sure they all just use the address of the entire business in KCMO for all legal purposes.

      • dan1101@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        6 days ago

        I got a 10-speed bike when I was about 10. A friend and I rode 15 miles to my uncle’s house to visit my cousin. Got home that evening and told my mom and she was like “That’s a bit too far away. Anyway let’s have supper.”