Charges against Treffly Coyne to be dropped

March 13th, 2008 by Jessica King | Permalink

In case you’re not up to speed, Treffly Coyne is a woman from Tinley Park, Illinois who was arrested for briefly leaving her young child in her car alone in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The case caused quite a stir on message boards, with some claiming what Coyne did was reckless and she deserved to be punished, while most seemed to think it was an outrage and an overreaction by police. Well, the majority seems to have been vindicated, as prosecutors are indicating that they are going to submit a motion to drop all charges:

Treffly Coyne, 36, was set to go on trial Thursday on misdemeanor charges of child endangerment and obstructing a peace officer. But the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office found the evidence did not support the charges, sources said.

Prosecutors will drop the case at a Thursday court appearance in Bridgeview, sources said.

It was Dec. 8 when Coyne drove to Wal-Mart in suburban Crestwood so that her children could donate $8.29 in coins to the Salvation Army.

When she arrived, she parked in a loading zone. Her two-year-old daughter Phoebe was asleep. Coyne locked the car and activated the alarm, then took her two other daughters and another child to the Salvation Army donation kettle no more than ten yards away.

A community service officer intercepted Coyne on her way back to the car. Crestwood police then arrested her.

Information from: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/83994...

Full Story: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/83994...
Filed under: Crime and Punishment
Tags: baby-locked-in-car, child-endangerment, crestwood, illinois, salvation-army, tinley-park, treffly-coyne, wal-mart

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Katy DeKoter

She should drop the lawsuit. She broke the law. She took a risk with her baby (evidence that it was a risk is that she locked the car and turned on the alarm) and the police did the right thing. I only wish more police would get this important message across. People in many midwest states do a lot worse and police won’t even respond to the endangered child….some don’t even have laws against it. It’s embarrassing to be from a state that has no such law. Nor does it have laws against leaving children home alone that draw the line at a certain age.
Family Rights

You are crazy… the child was never in danger and NO LAW WAS BROKEN… that’s why the prosecutor dropped the case. Keep the government out of my bedroom and our nursery. The child wasn’t hurt, the mother was right there, the cops went overboard. You ‘zero tolerance lunatics’ scare me more than the hypothetical child molestors, kidnappers and carjackers you fear are around every corner. Lets arrest a mom in front of her kids who did nothing illegal or even wrong. What’s next… you let your kid swim in the ocean? You should be jailed… it would only take a minute for a shark to come along and eat them.

The police broke up a family and arrested an innocent woman for no good reason. I think it’s a horrible precedent to accept. Not to mention the police abandoned the womans other children at the scene of the police crime.

What is even more insane is that people want to accept out of control crime has no remedy so we must create laws that PUNISH PEOPLE FOR NOT ADEQUATELY PROTECTING THEIR FAMILIES WHERE THE POLICE HAVE ALREADY FAILED.

It’s gotten out of contril in America. I say the police went too far, they had a right to investigate, and then they would have found out the woman never broke any laws.

Instead they rushed just to make an arrest and victimized an innocent mother and her children in the process.

Anyone who supports that wrongdoing by the police is obviously an unfit parent.
Patriot

NEWSFLASH! Today the Police Chief of Crestwood Illinois “resigned.” No reason was given, but the looming investigation of his departments treatment of the innocent mother, Treffly Coyne seems responsible.

Regardless, the man the world ridiculed for his departments treatment of an innocent woman and her children is OUT OF A JOB.

A small justice has been done to Treffly Coyne and her children.

Congratulations Treffly!
Insider

Treffly lied to the courts, she lied to the press, she lied to the world. While her husband was defending her reputation she was getting “free” legal advice and more from a Boulder attorney. Now that she has destroyed her marriage and she doesn’t have her husband to “spin” for her the truth about the woman and her actions will come out.
Family

DeKoter you are crazy. The child was never in danger. Treffly was less then 30ft away. What about if you at the grocery store and you have to put the cart away. Do you take your child with you then, maybe even in bad weather. NO! The cops obviously have nothing better to do then arrest innocent women. Or what about leaving your teenage child in the car to run a quick errend. Because thier a child should you be arrested then. NO! The police overreacted and displayed Teffely to be an abusive parent when that was not the case.
Doting Mom of 3 and Foster parent licensed

Family Rights you are absolutely 100% correct. I had a woman who approached me in a full window dollar store I was in to grab some poster board. I told her if she was so concerned I would gladly unlock the door to my car and she could sit in it with my son and I guarantee when he woke up he would be more scared if he saw her than anything else. I was in the store for 5 min and my car was in view the whole time. These parents that harp about this ARE the type of parents that will have their kids walking all over them and need to cut the cord! To me, it was more cruel to wake my much needed sleeping son than to bother him with waking up to go in a store for 5 min…..Really! These people better not fall asleep at night with their kids in their own bedrooms. Who’s watching them sleep if you are?

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