A six-year-old boy displayed far more common sense than his
mother after he woke up in the middle of the night and discovered that his mom
was gone. After wandering through the house looking for her, he went out to the
garage and saw that her car was missing. That’s when he called 911.
When deputies arrived at around 2 a.m., the scared boy was
standing in the garage with his four-year-old sister. Their mother, 23-year-old Megan Rene Hester, returned
home soon thereafter, having been away from the house for at least half an
hour. She told police that she had simply run to the convenience store to buy
gasoline while her kids were sleeping.
Because her house was clean and her children appeared to be
healthy, police did not file charges against the woman. They notified the State
Attorney’s office and child welfare workers of the situation, leaving it up to
these parties to take action if they felt it was necessary to do so.
I’m certainly glad that a traumatic situation for these
young kids was not made worse by having to watch their mother get arrested, but
I do hope child welfare agents take this case seriously. If the boy hadn’t
remained so calm and resourceful, this could have been a far worse situation
for everyone involved.
Do you think the mother should have been charged with child
endangerment?
Photo: Smart Kids Publishing
