Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog
Do you find it somewhat ironic that, on the very day after the day we reserve for counting our blessings (Thanksgiving), we fall into a frenzy to go out and get more?
Well, that is apparently what the curiously named “Black Friday” is for. Folks go through all kinds of gyrations to save money on that oh, very special day. They start camping out in front of stores the night before to get a good place on line to go into shopping battle, they gladly spend money they never had in order to experience the joy of bargain-hood, they place their children at terrible risk…
“Wait, Attorney Sam’s Take, what was that last one?”
Well, that is what 34-year-old Anthony Perry of Springfield (hereinafter, the “Care-less Provider”) did last Friday. Springfield police say that he left a toddler in a car while he went into the bargain trenches to bag a big-screen tv. Then, his hunting done, he saw that the toddler had developed an audience.
An audience dressed in blue.
Realizing that they were also now looking for him, the Care-less Giver took off.
Eventually, of course, he was found. They pretty much always are.
What he had done, while not exactly domestic violence, a criminal offense.
He gave an interview to the Boston Herald after the dust settled. He told the paper that, “I can tell you right now I am going to think about this forever…This may be a top story for you today. This is going to be my top story for the rest of my life.” He admits making the “mistake” of leaving the toddler inside the car.
The media was not the only folks the Care-less Giver spoke to. He also gave statements to the Springfield police who were investigating the matter. That’s where it also came out that it was not even his kid!
He admitted that he left his girlfriend’s 19-month-old son bundled up outside a Big Kmart for more than an hour while he went in to score a 51-inch Samsung plasma TV for $479
Perhaps the lapse of judgment was understandable. After all, as he describes, “After they came out and they said about the deals, I lost focus of everything else…It’s not about a television. You can be distracted. A mistake was made. I take full responsibility.”
After he left the store, the Care-less Provider says that he saw the officers and heard what was going on from a bystander.
“I got scared”, he explains. “I panicked”. So, he hitched a ride home from a fellow shopper, worried he’d be arrested if he stuck around. He said he never meant to leave the child alone for so long.
Maybe there is enough blame to go around…including the store. After all, as he explains further, “I was thinking, like, five minutes. But that wasn’t the case…They had me believe that if you had a ticket or were at the front of the line, you can go in and out.”
Clearly, some people question to wisdom of not making inculpatory statements. Some folks like to go on and on and on.
In any event, shoppers had noticed the toddler alone in the car and alerted store security and police. The police apparently made several attempts to find the car owner … including an “Attention Kmart shoppers” message over the store intercom . No luck.
Police broke the car window, removed the boy and shuttled him off to Baystate Medical Center, where his mother, who had been working a double shift at a nursing home, found him unharmed and eating a Popsicle when she came to pick him up.
Meanwhile, the Care-less Provider keeps talking. He has explained that he had originally shown up for an even better big-screen deal, standing in line outside the store, with the car in full view, as Kmart employees handed out vouchers. Alas, he missed the cut for that one, but stayed when the store generously promised a quick in-and-out shopping trip on a deal almost as good.
Upon learning about her boyfriend’s exploits, the toddlers’ mother was quick to explain that she had no interest in the television. She decided to make some statements herslef…particularly to him when he called her to fess up…at 2:13 a.m. Saturday morning.
“I was like, ‘Are you (expletive) kidding me?’ He said he made a mistake. People make mistakes, but that’s my child,” the tot’s mom said. She continued, “He’s telling me, ‘I did it for you. I did it for you.’ If you did it for me, it would have been the $288 TV, not the $500 TV. If you’re trying to help me, then you would not be spending $500 on the TV.”
She says that it is over between her and the Care-less Provider “for now”. “How am I going to trust him with my kids?” she asks. She added that before his Black Friday blunder, he had been a good role model and provider, helping care for the boy and his older sister
.For its part the policed say that they are contemplating bringing criminal charges against the Care-less Provider.
There may well be a separate piece of nightmare in the mother’s near future.
Its initials are D. C. F.
The story brings forth various issues, both criminal and otherwise, which are enough to destroy lives. Let’s take on those issues tomorrow.
In the meantime, have a great, law-abiding and really productive Cyber-Monday!
For the original article upon which this blog is based, please go to http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?&articleid=1061176915&format=&page=1&listingType=Loc#articleFull
