Charges will be dropped against mom who left child in car

This from the Daily Herald:

Charges will be dropped against a woman who briefly left her 2-year-old daughter alone in the car to take her two older daughters to pour coins into a Salvation Army kettle, prosecutors said today.

The woman, Treffly Coyne, was charged with misdemeanor child endangerment and obstructing a peace officer after a Crestwood police officer spotted her sleeping daughter alone in the vehicle Dec. 8. The mother claimed she was close by at all times and was gone for just minutes.

Coyne's trial was supposed to begin today, but prosecutors could not meet the burden of proof and decided to drop the charges, Cook County state's attorney spokesman John Gorman said.

Her husband reacted with relief and anger. If convicted, his wife faced up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

"We shouldn't have had to fight this long and this hard when my wife never did anything wrong," said Timothy Janecyk. The planned dismissal of the charges "only shows they tore my family apart for no reason."

Coyne, who was arrested in a loading zone near the entrance of a Wal-Mart store, contended 2-year-old Phoebe, who was sleeping, was safe inside the car after she locked it, activated the alarm system and turned on the emergency flashers.

She said she was never more than 30 feet from the vehicle, did not step inside the store and was gone for only minutes. And her attorney said because the car was always in sight, Coyne's daughter never was unattended.

Crestwood Police Chief Timothy Sulikowski said he strongly disagreed with the prosecutors' decision.

"We stand by the actions of our officers that night and they were looking out for the best interests of the child," he said.

Sulikowski said that while police were obligated to report the case to the state's child welfare agency, Coyne would not have been arrested had she cooperated and not refused to give them basic information, including the child's name.

"By not providing us with that information and the information of her child, at that point we don't know that that child is hers. We don't know if that child has been listed as a kidnapped child or a missing child," he said. "Absolutely, she forced this."

Coyne has acknowledged she did not tell officers her child's name after she called her husband on her cell phone and he told her not to say anything until he arrived. She said she was afraid and only wanted to wait for her husband, but police arrested her before he did.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services also investigated the incident and determined there was no credible evidence of abuse or neglect.

Coyne's case garnered international media attention. Scores of bloggers also weighed in online message boards, some of them blasting the police for overstepping their authority and others taking her to task for leaving her child, however briefly.

Her husband said she had to endure allegations that she endangered her child's life and the stigma that she was an unfit mother.

He said his wife would not speak to the media until charges were officially dropped, but that the couple would become vocal advocates for other families.

"My wife is going to find people victimized in this way and she is going to use this spotlight," he said.

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.