A Texas mom was led away in handcuffs, and spent a night in jail, for what she says was nothing more than letting her kids play outside.
The incident happened in La Porte, Texas.
According to television station KPRC, Tammy Cooper was approached by police responding to a call that her children were playing in the street unsupervised.
She maintains she was on the porch of her home, just a handful of yards away the entire time.
After looking over the details of the case, the Harris County District Attorney dropped the charges...but that didn’t prevent Cooper from spending a night in jail.
And now, she's hitting back...by suing the La Porte Police Department.
According to KPRC, Cooper said her children, ages 9 and 6, were riding their motorized scooters in a cul-de-sac when the officer arrived. At that point, she was informed a neighbor had accused her of child endangerment.
She was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police cruiser while police interviewed her children...that she says were terrified by the entire episode. She was eventually taken to jail...spending some 18 hours in custody before being released.
“My daughter had him (the police officer) around the leg saying ‘Please, please don’t take my mom to jail. Please, she didn’t do anything wrong,’” Cooper told KPRC.
The La Porte Police department issued a statement saying;
"...we are confident in the known actions of the responding officers. In addition, officers did contact the Harris County District Attorney's Office while on the scene that evening, upon which their Office accepted charges of Abandoning a Child on Ms. Cooper."
Cooper said the ordeal has been stressful, time consuming and costly. She said her family has already shelled out $7,000 in legal fees.
"I hope that what I went through doesn't go unpunished - that there are consequences for a bad decision," Cooper said.
Should this Texas mom have been arrested? Is this a case of the police going too far?
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