Police Call: Child in Trunk

[tomp]

Wow, this is crazy.

On a related note - are you legally required to go back? What if you just said to them on the phone... "uh, no, I'm not returning". And maybe told them what car it was and that your kid was in the 3rd row seat. Any thoughts as to what one is required to do, and/or what the police would do if you did not return?

Taking my son home from the town's rec center after martial arts class and apparently someone decided that I must be abusing/abducting him since I put him in "the trunk". Apparently they called 911 with my tag and the police called me on the cell telling me to come back to the rec center, where there were several cop cars waiting for me(screen grab from dash cam as I drove back). As soon as I opened the hatch of course it all became clear to them.

 

[dsm363]

Wow, this is crazy.

On a related note - are you legally required to go back? What if you just said to them on the phone... "uh, no, I'm not returning". And maybe told them what car it was and that your kid was in the 3rd row seat. Any thoughts as to what one is required to do, and/or what the police would do if you did not return?

Not sure what is required but if you didn't go back I can imagine they could make your life very difficult or worse.

 

[AnOutsider]

Not sure what is required but if you didn't go back I can imagine they could make your life very difficult or worse.

Not sure on what grounds? If it were that pressing they could have gone to his home.

 

[tkizzy]

"Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" -Benjamin Franklin

No, you're not. If they want to underline their incompetence by issuing an amber alert or something, let them! Telling them over the phone should be enough it's 2015 they have access to a little thing called the world wide web not to mention your DMV records..if they subpoena you... the joke's still on them.

 

[sitter_k]

Always interesting to see on forums the great distrust Americans have of the police and by extension the government. This is a stark contrast to the culture in Canada. In Canada we sometimes roll over and obey a little too easily and often. In the u.s. sometimes I feel people are a bit too paranoid. Different histories...

 

[Canuck]

"Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" -Benjamin Franklin

Different times. The atomic bomb was still over 200 years away, and the possibility of a dirty bomb killing millions of people wasn't even a thought.

If you believe you haven't given up essential liberty to purchase temporary safety, you haven't followed the Patriot Act or Snowden's disclosures.

 

[Rheazombi]

Who says we're okay with the Patriot Act?

 

[NigelM]

Always interesting to see on forums the great distrust Americans have of the police...

For some reason police are always expected to be perfect 100% of the time and, in the presence of 'incompetence headlines', many people forget/ignore the outstanding and brave work that quietly takes place every day.

Late the other night in the middle of a thunderstorm my neighbor called (he's on vacation) and asked me to check on his house as the alarm had gone off; concurrent to his call the alarm company had notified the police. Couple of minutes later (we live in the country and his house is about 1/2 mile away from mine) I was outside his house and could see that the front door was wide open so I waited by the street in my car. All of 1 minute later a single police officer arrived; I told him I had a key and the alarm code but hadn't entered the house in case there was an intruder. This officer asked me if I would wait then took his flashlight and gun and went into the dark house, during the storm, pitch black sky, no street lighting, to check for a break-in. Another officer did arrive a few minutes later and it turned out that the violent winds had probably blown open the door that had a sticky latch and wasn't closed properly; so no intruders but I was struck by the bravery and willingness of someone to walk without hesitation into a scary and potentially dangerous situation.

I'm willing to forgive the occasional follow up where police officers are checking on Tesla 'child in trunk' calls.

 

[mknox]

It may not be problem in Canada but in the US police might approach such a situation with guns drawn. It is a serious allegation and shouldn't be made lightly.

It's a problem here too, unfortunately. Not too long ago in my home town a driver was shot dead at a traffic stop.

 

[AnOutsider]

Not to get too political here, but I think it's easier for folks who don't have to deal with corrupt police to ignore the fact there's problems. No, not all cops are bad cops, but there sure are a lot of them giving the good ones bad names.

 

[sitter_k]

I was just discussing this with my gf last night. I was in the area that night during the aftermath. Tough to say what happened but there are defiantly some procedural issues and obvious combativeness by police against those who are policing them.

 

[ThosEM]

This is a bit tangential, but consider this case in which someone reported to the police the fact that a couple of kids had been allowed to walk home from the park alone (gasp! without parental escorts). After a huge hoopla and a repeat incident in which the kids were again taken into custody and the parents were accused of neglect and threatened with loss of parental custody, we have finally accepted that "free range parenting" is perhaps ok and could even be beneficial to the maturation of the children.

 

[tga]

And with kids someone might make the argument that kids should never be left alone in a car anyway. But what about a dog?

I am a very responsible dog owner. Before I had the model S, I would, on very rare occasion, and only if it was not too hot, stop for a five minute run into the grocery store with the dog in the car. If I did this I always had the air conditioning cranked all the way down before I exited the car, cracked the windows, and was back, literally, in under seven or eight minutes. I never did this if the temperature was very warm. I'd come back to the car, the dog was fine, the car was cool--no problem.

Now, in the model S, while I could actually keep the a/c running, I haven't considered doing this because of the risk that some good Samaritan would break my Model S windows to get my dog out of the air conditioning and out into the heat.

From the Dogs in a Model S?? thread, here is AudubonB's solution:

 

[Andyw2100]

From the Dogs in a Model S?? thread, here is AudubonB's solution

Thanks.

I have considered some sort of a sign, and if I ever needed to leave the dog in the model S, I imagine I'd go that route. So far, I've been able to avoid it.

Thanks again!

 

[Cyclone]

Now, in the model S, while I could actually keep the a/c running, I haven't considered doing this because of the risk that some good Samaritan would break my Model S windows to get my dog out of the air conditioning and out into the heat.

It's a crazy society in which we live.

I have a sign just for this. It explicitly says "Dog NOT in Danger! A/C is running!" I would put it up on the dash when the time comes. That said, I have yet to need it as we use the ICE for doggie transport.

 

[deonb]

From the Dogs in a Model S?? thread, here is AudubonB's solution:

Good idea on the sign, but http://www.tesla.com doesn't exist (well, it does, but it's owned by a domain squatter).

 

[dhanson865]

I don't know about any of you, but I would be very "pissed" if I was handcuffed in a parking lot while my family looks on because of a harmless feature of my car. Certainly you think, "Oh, that would never happen." But it does. Almost arrested for MS feature | Forums | Tesla Motors The guy was lucky the police acted rationally and without guns drawn, in this case, and that the sergeant that came out to clean up the mess was familiar with the vehicle.

Calling the police is not always a harmless action. You're putting that family at risk when you call the police reporting a child abduction. In my opinion, you better have a damned better explanation for putting my family at risk than "I saw you strap your kids into car seats in the trunk."

when i hear "I'M CALLING THE POLICE!" coming from what looks like her oldest daughter.

*About 10 minutes of strange screaming lady*


Finally officers arrive. The lady, now in tears even though my kids are now standing next to the car, becomes frantic telling the cops i was sticking my children in the trunk with these specially designed seats and such. I couldn't help but laugh at the entire thing. Only made the situation worse when the oldest daughter noticed and starting going off into a "he's kidnapping them" tirade,

I'd like to see the mother and daughter (if old enough) charged for the false report and both the mother and daughter (if old enough) forced to do community service to drive the point home that they shouldn't have made that call.

 

[Canuck]

I'd like to see the mother and daughter (if old enough) charged for the false report and both the mother and daughter (if old enough) forced to do community service to drive the point home that they shouldn't have made that call.

First, you mean "convicted" and not "charged" since you don't charge someone and then sentence them to community service. Second, in order to commit a criminal offence (excluding strict liability offences) you need both the mens rea (mental element or intention to commit the crime) in addition to the actus rea (the act itself). The actus rea alone is not enough to obtain a criminal conviction, and for good reason. I would think the criminal justice system in the States is overloaded enough without treating people with good intentions as criminals. That makes no sense to me.

Always interesting to see on forums the great distrust Americans have of the police and by extension the government. This is a stark contrast to the culture in Canada. In Canada we sometimes roll over and obey a little too easily and often. In the u.s. sometimes I feel people are a bit too paranoid. Different histories...

Very true. Just the knee jerk reaction to charge people with good intentions speaks volumes. I guess, therefore, the overwhelming posts on this thread which are against my point of view shouldn't surprise me, nor should the stats below, but they do...

"The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners."

U.S. prison population dwarfs that of other nations - The New York Times

List of countries by incarceration rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[brucet999]

..if they subpoena you... the joke's still on them.

The joke may be on them, but the legal expense and time lost defending yourself would be your problem.

That said, I think i would have politely declined the police request to return to the rec center and invited them instead to stop by my house to see my Tesla's rear child seats for themselves.

 

[evp]

I don't see the problem. You can fit like six of them in there if you use both trunks.