Chicagoland Police suspected of Child Endangerment ...by Arrested Parent

It was sleeting in Chicago.

Mom parked in a WalMart loading zone next to a family tying a Christmas Tree to their car, turned off the car and flipped on the emergency flashers and alarm.

She was never out of sight of her locked car while she escorted her older daughters 10 paces to the Salvation Army Kettle to donate 8 bucks and change. She snapped a couple of pictures. They never went inside the store.

Inside the car was a 2-year old, buckled into her seat, still asleep.

Thanks goodness their was a community service officer nearby to "help."

So what if there was no evidence of abuse or neglect. Clearly, this is exactly the kind of criminal we build prisons for and she should spend the next year of her miserable life behind bars!?

So the helpful officer chewed Mom out, handcuffed her, placed her in the back of the patrol car leaving the three older girls unattended, and drove off.

It's best for the children.

Dad says...

"My family was warm and safe and together just doing a little good deed until the Crestwood Police arrived to help" said the father Tim Janecyk. "My wife is jailed, our child is taken from us, and they call her a bad mom but they abandon three little girls right there."

Janecyk doesn't understand how the police can charge his wife with the crime of leaving their two year old safetly locked in a car for three or four minutes, yet the police seem to be immune from prosecution for endangering the other girls that night. "

My children were never in so much danger until the Crestwood Police arrrived on the scene." Janecyk stated.

Video from CBS2Chicago.com: and Photo.

This from MSNBC.

Mom faces trial for leaving toddler in car
Controversial child endangerment case stirs Internet debate

CHICAGO - Treffly Coyne was out of her car for just minutes and no more than 10 yards away. But that was long and far enough to land her in court after a police officer spotted her sleeping 2-year-old daughter alone in the vehicle; Coyne had taken her two older daughters to pour $8.29 in coins into a Salvation Army kettle.

Minutes later, she was under arrest — the focus of both a police investigation and a probe by the state’s child welfare agency. Now the case that has become an Internet flash point for people who either blast police for overstepping their authority or Coyne for putting a child in danger...

...“She was on a tirade, she was yelling at me,” Coyne said. The officer, Coyne said, didn’t want to hear about how close Coyne was, how she never set foot inside the store and was just there to let the kids donate money, or how she could always see her car...

Coyne stands trial tomorrow in suburban Chicago. Let's hope the judge tempers justice with both mercy and common sense.