‘You want me to seize your kids?’ Officer berates mother who left children in car
Recorded footage from Vancouver last week shows a city police officer yelling and admonishing a mother for allegedly leaving her two children in a hot car while she was grocery shopping.
The incident took place last Monday after police received multiple calls reporting that two children were unattended and in distress in a car while the alarm went off, police told CBC News. Responding to the calls in the parking lot of a grocery store, officers found the kids, a 6-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy, according to CTV News.
After investigating, police determined that the woman had been shopping for 20 minutes while her children were left alone, according to CTV. It is unclear how hot it was outside when the women was shopping, but researchers say the temperature inside of a car can increase by 30 degrees within 20 minutes, and the Farmer’s Almanac states that the heat in Vancouver touched 78 degrees on Monday.
According to CTV, video surfaced Thursday of an officer berating the woman and yelling at her when she appears to argue that her actions were not unsafe.
“Your children could have died,” the unidentified officer tells the woman in the video.
“You don’t seem to understand the danger you put these children in,” the officer continues, before the mother appears to speak.
“Listen to me,” the officer interrupts. “You’re talking when you should be listening. Your children could have died. The windows are up. It’s hot out.”
The woman then says something in reply, and the officer asks her, “Why are you arguing?”
“You want me to seize your kids? And you’ll never see them again? Is that your problem? That is your problem,” he continues.
“You don’t seem to understand what you’ve done. You’ve got a fire truck, an ambulance and two police cars here because you left your kids in there, and you think it’s fine. And you wonder why I’m upset?” the officer says. “What kind of parent are you?”
The recording does not capture any more words between the woman and the officer, but he can be heard telling another emergency official that “she has no idea.”
According to CBC, another video shows two other people confronting the woman. In that recording, she can be heard claiming that she left the sunroof of her SUV open and that she was only gone for five minutes.
In a press conference, Vancouver chief constable Adam Palmer voiced support for his officer’s actions and said the case has been referred to child welfare, although the mother will not face criminal charges.
“I've known that officer for many years. He is a highly respected member of the police department, hard working, dedicated officer. I know he has children of his own,” Palmer said.
This story was originally published July 8, 2017 at 3:45 PM with the headline "‘You want me to seize your kids?’ Officer berates mother who left children in car."