Tinley Park mom leaves child in car — endangerment?

This case is about so much more than one mother and her two year old child in a Walmart parking lot.

It is about our rights as parents and Americans. The police jailed this woman, took her two year old into ‘protective custody’, labeled her a child abuser and now SHE needs to defend herself and her motherhood in front of a judge. It should be THE POLICE defending their actions in front of a judge.

If the mother wins, score one for our rights and liberties.

If the mother loses:

EVERY PARENT IN ILLINOIS WHO LETS THEIR CHILD WALK TO SCHOOL UNATTENDED BECOMES A CRIMINAL.

This ‘little misdemeanor case’ has pretty big implications for all parents, all citizens of this country.

Good luck to you on March 13 at your trial Treffly Coyne.

“Samara” You are the nutball I am afraid of my chid encountering.

Get real.

Seek therapy.

Stay away from my children.

All of you what if people are crazy. Many children are killed in parking lots, run over by cars every year. Many kids are killed in car accidents. These are horrible eyou should consider the risk of anything your children might be exposed to, but you shouldn’t live your lives in trembling fear.

The mom left a little sleeping 2 year old in a warm car, she locked the door, she took the keys, I saw the video on the news, the cars hazard lights were on… the child was safe.

She was standing a few feet away for a few minutes right by the car.

And they took her baby.

This is an attack on motherhood by the male dominated and created law enforcement system. You should all be outraged. The people who should protect have injured a family.

I am outraged that this could happen. The family is a sacred thing and those cops went way too far over the line. Maybe it will be you and your family next.

Samara,
Your choice of words portrays that you must have been an outstanding professional during your days as a Police Officer. Seriously, if you would like people to take your words seriously, use grown up language. You seem to have some major anger issues and are possibly one of those police officers that give others a poor reputation.

I’d rather my child live a full life than one wrapped in fear and anger and as a ‘victim’. My brother was nearly abducted as a first grader, yet my parents continued to allow him to walk to school. He is now a healthy, happy, functional adult. What would he be like today if my parents had simply forbid him to ever be alone again? Not nearly the man that he is today. He probably would have been afraid to attend college and perhaps he would instead be sitting at home working in a factory. A sad, but very real possibility.

Do you have children? Are they allowed to play in your yard unattended? Do you have a dog? Do you realize that your dog ‘could’ kill them? We have a 100 lb newfoundland mix and while she is certainly large enough and strong enough to kill any of my children and possibly myself since I only have about 10 lbs on her, I’m not worried.

No one goes before their time. NO ONE.

Law enforcement is completely out of hand. If they are going to arrest this women, then they also need to arrest every parent that allows their child to ride a bike without a protective helmet. Statistically, this is much more dangerous that allowing a child to sit in a car for a few minutes.

Samara,
I hope that you find the peace, love and joy that you so desperately need in your life.

Good luck tomorrow in court!
No worries to the family! There isn’t a judge in this world that would side with the prosecution-
I have no doubt you have an excellent attorney- no worries, no worries. sleep well tonight

I hope none of the nonsense of these blogs ever reach your eyes.
People that fire off about a case they know nothing about,
shows their absolute ignorance.

And remember… these people that are mean, and comment in a negative way, are pathetic little people with nothing to do
other than slam people- they don’t count…they don’t matter…
they are nothing…

Ignore the blogs. Feel sorry for them. They don’t care about you or your case- they just want their 10 mins of fame on the internet…
ooohhhhhh…. what a BIG deal! Fame on an internet blog. Whoopie!

chin up!

oh, and Samara, that’s not my real name. So please don’t try to track me down and kill me!

Samara, dear, lets try to complete a sentence without a curse word, mm-kay?! That kind of language is just a poor excuse for having a small vocabulary.
It has already been pointed out, but children can be abducted right out of their own beds. I don’t think this mother did anything wrong. How many times have people given dirty looks to Moms that take their little ones out in bad weather? Well this Mom made the right decision to leave her daughter sleeping in the warm car. The car was locked and within her sight. Quit overreacting.
I have three kids. Not too long ago I had three kids under the age of 2. Umm, there has been more than one occasion where I have left the kids strapped in their seats while I run into the house for a diaper or take the kids in one at a time. Does that make me a bad Mom? Please, explain to me how I’m supposed to do that differently. I wasn’t blessed with three arms.

Samara, Sounds like a female name but I wouldn’t expect that point of view from a female. Samarra is a very violent city in Iraq. Maybe you’ve been there. It’s no place you want to stay long, I promise you that. Samara as you spelled it is a city in Russia and the name of that little girl from the movie the Ring. So far that name choice is looking highly suspicious. Kinda devils advocate ‘ish…problem is though. The way the world is today, we don’t need any advocates of the devil. Thank you for the perspective of the twisted side of life though. As everyone has pointed out, any of the terrible things that happen each day could happen regardless of the precautions taken. That doesn’t mean throw caution to the wind but it doesn’t mean living life in a bubble either. The police crossed the line. They are humans too. They made a mistake and like a lot of humans they are having a hard time admitting it. Not many people enjoy being wrong but it seems as though you have strong parallels with those same police that cross the line and then fight with everything they have to prove that what they did was right. It is not ok to remove the fly from your friends forehead by utilizing an axe or a sledgehammer, no matter how professional you are. Admit you are wrong and move on so that you can be respected when you really need to be like when you shoot the crackhead for coming at you with a butter knife. I can back you on that. This case wreaks of a personal vendetta against this family by some officials or shear stupidity on the part of those same officials (or both). If she broke the law, she broke the law. 10 minutes with no eyes on, she’s guilty. So far I haven’t seen that is the case. Maybe we aren’t being shown all of the evidence. Maybe there was a sign that said please break into my car and steal my child as soon as I turn my back. I don’t think so though. And if someone did take her child in the two minutes or so that she was 30 feet away, I have news for you. The guilty party is the kidknapper. By your reasoning Elizabeth Smarts parents should be in prison because they didn’t make her sleep between theme at night…the flip side of that would be that they would be wrong to make thier child sleep between them…I’ll stop here, I’ve endulged you enough. Your lack of repost shows that you have achieved what you set out to do and that was to do nothing more than draw attention to yourself.

Samara, I’m sure you use that language in front of your own children and I’m sure, like you, they’ll grow into hypersensitive adults. Next time you post use your big girl language and maybe we wouldn’t all think you were a raving idiot. You were a police officer for 8 years? Lord help the city and the people you worked for. Honestly and I couldn’t be more serious right now: See professional help. You owe it to yourself and the rest of the world.

Read this.
http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/09/07/348604.aspx

That woman should be the one on trial. This case is completly unjust and unfair, and those who can’t see that are stupid, and should have their right to vote stripped from them, because I don’t want people that stupid allowed to make decisions that effect my life.

This is just nuts. Normally I take a very cautious view and am the first to criticize parents who take chances. But there were no chances being taken here!!! The car was locked, not running, mom was just STEPS away and the car was never out of her sight. I feel awful for this poor woman. What is the law? That a child has to be in your arms at all times?

Treffly Coyne did nothing wrong. Good Luck to you. Samara I couldn’t read your whole article. I quit after the first few sentences, unrealistic. In this world today anything can happen anytime or place. The police have gotten to the point in this country,with the largest prison population in the world, that they believe that their beliefs are law. They have become a society of Blue. Police now over react rather than react. Common sense seems to be missing in training police officers. Once Again, Mrs. Coyne the best of luck to you, my prayers are with you.

Mrs. Coyne’s mistake was arguing with a lady cop. I can just hear the tirade coming from the police officer. Anyone who has been pulled over by a female officer should know to only say “Yes, ma’am; no ma’am; I’m really sorry, ma’am; you’re right, ma’am.” I hope the judge will recognize this clear abuse of power, and will award the officer a dog to kick instead of the citizenry.

Give those police officers a break. You have no idea how much pressure they are under to meet quota for arrests every month!

Treffly Coyne, I wish you luck. You are a great mom and I hope you win. I doubt any sane judge/jury would convict you.

And this “Samara”, good luck in your mental rehab. Don’t get arrested for leaving your medication bottle for too long.

I won’t attack Samara, everyone else seems to have done a fine job on that… but I have to wonder…

- Baby left in car for 10 minutes
- Car locked, hazards on
- Mom was a few yards away
- Two older children were with her

Everyone has talked about the 2 year old left in the car seat, but little has been said about the trauma the older two children suffered watching Treffly, first being accosted verbally by the community service officer, then subsequently arrested by a police officer. The anguish these two young children suffered on that day, and I’m sure the days following, is more of a case of abuse than leaving the two year old to begin with.

So what happens now? Treffly will very likely be aquitted, but what kind of repercussions will the community service officer and the police officer have to deal with? Are they being cited for over-reacting? Have they been put on administrative leave? Is there any kind of re-education happening that will teach them how to appropriately deal with something similar in future?

We read about all sorts of abuse scandles in the papers every day, and if there’s an arrest to be made, the children are removed from the situation as quickly as possible to avoid the trauma I mentioned above.

This police officer and the social community worker sicken me. They weren’t worried about the best interest of the child, they were worried about “teaching her a lesson”. That’s for the courts, which a citation would have most certainly dealt with at the appropriate time, in the appropriate forum.

God Bless you Treffly, I will pray for you tomorrow, and for the judge to see the truth among the madness.

You know, when the child-savers went to the lawmakers to get the authority from the government to persecute neglective parents they showed pictures of children starved and beaten black and blue by parents who were drug users, etc. So now lawmakers give CPS & police all the power in the world to protect children and this is how they use their power- arresting a mom who stepped a few feet away to teach her children about charitable giving? Please- do a reality check. Stop wasting the energies of people who need to be spending their efforts on truly neglected children. It’s clearly an abuse of authority. This is a growing trend that needs to stop. Paranoid people who have had a bad experience want everyone to over-react. If you have had a bad experience, I’m sorry, but punish the criminals who did it- not earnest parents.

Wow, Samara is more nutty than the Police on this matter, and that is saying a lot. Both need to experience their karma so they can know how much damage they are causing with their vitriolic words and actions against an obviously innocent woman in this matter. They not only insult and injure Treffly Coyne and parents like her, they also insult and injure themselves. It would be best if the authorities and people like Samara stop this abusive crossing of lines immediately, and apologize to Treffly Coyne, and all parents like her. “Judge not lest you be judged”… does that ring a bell? “Du du du Ding!… The fries are ready!”

Treffly, I hope you win today! You did nothing wrong. Anyone who has 2 kids or more knows what a juggling act being a mom is. I’ve done similar with my own. I NEVER leave my kids out of sight, I NEVER leave my keys in the car, I NEVER leave them for longer than it takes to either drop a letter in the mailbox or fill the van with gas, and I always lock the doors and arm the alarm. This is basically what this mother did and so many other good parents do.
But then I see in the news of how a car was stolen with a toddler/baby in the car. And while the majority of the time there is a happy ending, you never hear about those parents getting their child taken away by CPS or the parents hauled off to prison for their neglect to keep their vehicle in sight, their keys with them and the doors locked. Big double standard don’t you think?!
Treffly Coyne should be found not guilty and her children and the children’s friend should receive psychological counseling at the expense of the arresting city police. Abandoning and scaring to death 3 vulnerable little girls by the police is inexcusable. A big apology is in order from the police - but of course we know that will never happen!
Good luck!

This is so ridiculous that I don’t even know where to begin. She was no further away from her car than she would have been if she returned a cart to the cart corral. She locked the car and the child was sleeping. I absolutely would have done the same thing and would not have thought twice about it. Besides the trauma to the mother…what about the impact on the children. The older children were terrified and probably don’t trust the police to actually protect them now. Not to mention the trauma for the little one to be hauled off by strangers…I find that to be much more damaging to her than sleeping in a locked car that her mother is in plain sight of!! As far as Samara’s comments….I don’t even have words to describe your thoughts…insane comes to mind but that seems to be putting it too mildly.

I wish this mother all my best in this situation and she will be in my prayers!

Sam, is that short for Samara?

Naw, just a better nut case.

Treffly-
I am so sorry that this has happened to your family.
I had a run in with the law regarding leaving my kids unattended several years ago.
At that time I was a young mother of 2 little kids and didn’t even know that it was an actual law that you couldn’t leave your kids in the car, no matter the circumstances.
I did leave mine in a locked, vented, shaded and not running car on a fall day (which was not hot or cold). I was gone 12min in a building where i had to quickly drop some important mortgage papers off.
I was surprised when I came out and a police officer was at my car and told me what I did was against the law. A lady going to lunch saw my kids and had called the police. I was given a citation with a court appearance. I got to go up and have everyone else listen to the judge as I was asked if I plead guilty to leaving my kids unattended.
I do believe I plead guilty or no contest, because yes I had left them (even though I felt my situation had been a safe environment). I know that if I had tried to dispute the circumstances, I would have been arrested and jailed or fined heavily. I was ordered to take a parenting class of my choosing (I took Love and Logic- which had nothing to do with leaving my kids in the car). I then had to go back and see the judge after I finished my class. I guess to see if a class had reformed me? Well, it had… I was saw that I could have my kids removed for any little thing… which would put them in my spouse’s care? Not sure what would have happened. So from then on I have been paranoid about what other “do gooders” are out there that are waiting for me to make a mistake and call it breaking the law.
I guess if you are a busy mom that left her kids in a safe car for a few minutes, you immediately need classes for everything you do as a mom. Well, I know I am a good mom that takes care of all my kids and makes sure they learn about strangers and all the dangers out there. I don’t make them afraid to step out of there door. The government is not in charge of raising my children… I am. I hope that our system of law enforcers can use there common sense and maybe some empathy when interpreting the laws they are trying to enforce.
I have a friend that was also ticketed for having her kids in the car of a friend’s driveway, while she was just inside the door of the friend’s house- taking her some cookies.
I guess that the police are more concerned about over worked soccer moms (not the ones that go killing their kids) then about real criminals. Not enough crime in the suburbs? Not so!
Good luck and God bless on you and your family, Treffly. I would say not to worry, but our society seems to be going down hill in the “trust its citizens with their own families” department. Just remember this when voting for the next president, who will decide what government and law enforcers are aloud to do in your family.

Good luck in court tomorrow, I agree with others that say that no judge in their right mind would convict you of any crime!

From reading the above comments, the majority of the parents that have posted need to go turn themselves into local authorities for doing what you did, myself included…

Just the other day, I left my 6 year old son in my truck as I opened my door next to my wife’s van to swap the car seat out of her van into my truck so our 2 year old could ride home with me while my wife attended a shool function with our 10 year old daughter.

I read stories everyday, as I’m sure most of us do, about “parents” that abuse, neglect, or even throw their kids off of bridges that will probably plead insanity and be out walking amongst us again in a few years…and the police had the audacity to actually cuff Mrs. Coyne in front of her children, and worse yet, take her 2 year old child into “protective custody”…how ridiculous is that?!?

The Coyne’s are obviously great parents and very intellignet people judging by Mr. Coyne’s advice to his wife not to speak to authorities until he arrived, not to mention Mrs. Coyne teaching their children to give generously to those in need.

This is a gross waste of tax payer’s time, and money and is an insult to loving parents everywhere that are doing best by their chidlren.

What a joke this all is. Does anyone know whether there is a way to donate to the Coynes? Legal fees are never cheap. It burns me up to watch a good parent have to deal with this cr*p. My siblings and I think of our mom as the best mother a person could have, and I know she’s done similar things with us. I guess from now on, when a mother fills up her tank at a gas station, she should pull up to the pump, wake her sleeping toddler, and hold the toddler while she fills up her gas tank. Also, it’s my understanding (I might be wrong) that the cops just left the other kids at the store after they arrested Ms. Coyne?! If that is true, that seems a lot closer to child endangerment than what Ms. Coyne is accused of.

P.S. Samara, you forgot to take you meds. DON’T FORGET TO TAKE THEM EVER AGAIN! YOU GIVE THE IMPRESSION THAT YOU’RE A LUNATIC WHEN YOU’RE NOT ON THEM!!!!!

Sam,

Not all parents can afford a sitter or a nanny. I have 2 year-old twins and I’m lucky enough that I have never needed to go anywhere without either our nanny or my husband. But there are several other moms in my parents of multiple club are not so lucky. They had to go everywhere –do everything with their kids.

By the way, how old are you? not in school today?

All of you are a joke, I’ve been cordial and on the level…and I am sure its a safe bet that my educational background trumps yours, but that’s not why I am here.

I have a 3yr old son and working on kid number 2…I do not have a ton of cash, nor do we have a nanny…and yes I can say I have never, not once….locked my kid in the car unattended….if he’s sleeping and I need gas and have to go in a pay…I gently unbuckle him, go in and pay, and bring him back….hopefully still asleep. I live in the DFW area and can safely say the car is the last place you want your child left unattended. Between the crime and the temps around it, it is not a safe thing to do.

The temp in a car, vented or not, can approach dangerous levels in less than 20min. Every year I hear about a handful of kids who were either abducted or died in the car due to being left unattended…heck half the time the parents were right inside the C-store watching from the window…Most parents are not aware of how fast things can go wrong. I for one, no matter how cold, how much of a hurry, how quick,etc, etc, would ever leave my kid in the car…period.

Heck our daycare at the church will call the cops if a parent leaves the older kid in the car while they bring in the little one.

It is just not a gamble I am willing to take with most precious thing in my life…sorry…I will inconvenience myself before I leave little Sam in the car alone.

Most of what I am talking about here are younger kids who are strapped in a carseat. Not the 7-10 year old that can act on commands or get themselves out of the car on their own in case of danger… It is the child that can not do on his own who is most at risk…like the 2yr old in this case.

Sam,

If you can post even one story in which an abduction or dangerous temperature change occurred in a situation with facts that are otherwise identical to the story here, I would be astounded. If a parent pays with a credit card at the pump, should he or she wake the child up and hold the child while pumping gas? What Ms. Coyne did was the smart, normal thing to do. What if she had done what Samara suggested, and dropped her kid on the pavement by accident? That’s more likely than the doomsday scenarios of a kid freezing to death in 5 minutes or being abducted while the doors are locked and the alarm is on. Most parents care a lot more about their kids than the government or some Wal-Mart meter maid does. Let them take care of their kids.

She needs to teach her kids that many police use their uniform as a club to lord over the citizenry. Legal over-compensation. “Yes, ma’am; sorry ma’am, you’re right, ma’am, I’ll never do it again, ma’am.” Good thing she didn’t get her head clubbed. Notice one of the charges is “obstruction of justice.” NEVER ARGUE WITH A COP - ESPECIALLY A LADY COP!

If you pay at the pump, roll the back window down and talk to you kids while you pump…thats not leaving them in a locked car.

Tom, I stand corrected…you are right, just because a situation with these exact circumstances has never happened before with a bad outcome, means it will never happen…my bad…I should have known better. And I would rather risk me dropping my child, then leaving them in the car.

Damon says: I have to wonder how is this going to effect her children’s view of police now?

Wow no wonder she’s not on the police force anymore(thank god), she is what i assume was the type of officer that our young mother came into contact with. Folks, as asked earlier how many parents have pumped gas in their car and paid for it with their kids still in the car,I Assume again every parent in the once free United States has done it. The two older children where found by there father sitting inside the Walmart alone? Why was the commanding officer on the scene not arrested for child neglect also, that is the worst nightmare neglect case ive heard, cops caught up in creating drama, arresting a mother then letting two kids wonder by themselves into a huge store with at least three other exits to be takin, the officers where just wanting to ruin a perfect law abiding family and throw them in the same class as the criminals they have locked up in their State Prison. These officers where wrong and our government along with them have taken all rights away from law abiding citizens and some how allowed to label good people bad because there are crooks rapist child preds out there. A Box is what our government seems to be pushing us to live in(THE NEW China), do and act the only way they say or you and your family will be raked over the media and the courts until youve paid the lawyers and state and have been tramatized and broken$ hearted. I do not remember ever going to vote allowing this police officer the right to tell us she or he knows better than We The People, if anyone watches the news lately then you will see most of the headlines are Corrupt Government officials and wife killing cops,not mothers gone wild(all politicians and ranking official should be kicked out and we should start over). Beatles where right, we need a Revolution and take back our country, and heres a good question didnt this happen in Barrack Obamas state? Dang what else can we look forward to if he’s running the what used to Be a free world. May god help us all and i had better start seeing kids standing next to their parents at the Gas pump.Thats probably where this cop will get her next victim at the Walmart gas pumps. WHATS THE DIFFERENCE? And yes there are some dumb parents out there, we all with Brains know this. But this isnt one of them, and who knows for those of you who hang way out there on the WING maybe your loyal government will make a new law that will only allow certain folks to have kids like for instance the NY governor Spitzer im sure he’s been a great father and never broke any of the law’s he put so many away for as A DA.Funny isnt it how some folks never get it and power goes straight to the head when given. Bring Back the Free World, a voting booth in every town for every law might get us there, because our politicians sure aint(TN slang).God Bless and may the normal folks survive and build a better country…

If the mother faces time in jail for this petty situation, then I think it is somewhat ironic. Police think she did an injustice to the child, well–if she has to spend up to a year in jail for this, then the police did an injustice to the child and her siblings. Being without a mother for up to a year–that can be traumatizing and can carry with it future repercussions to the childrens’ egos. Parents all over the nation do the same thing this woman did. Like when a mom has to carry in her groceries into the house, leaving the child in the car for a brief moment. It would be more dangerous leaving the child in the house and then get the groceries because the child could wander off and perhaps fall down the stairs.