CRS
Chandler, Arizona, United States

There's an old saying. If you don't want someone to join a crowd, you ask them, "If everyone were jumping off of a cliff, would you?" Well, I have. So my answer would be "Yes". True story.
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The Mother Who Left Her Infant on Top of the Car

Monday, June 04, 2012

this entry brought to you by radiohead, "paranoid android"


There was a story that happened last Sunday that's been making the rounds on Facebook that I thought was worth commenting on:


A marijuana-smoking woman was arrested on Saturday in Phoenix after she accidentally drove away with her five-week-old son in a child safety seat on the roof of her vehicle, police said.

The baby fell off the car in the middle of an intersection and was found unharmed and strapped into the seat, said Phoenix police spokesman James Holmes.

The mother Catalina Clouser, 19, was booked into jail on child abuse and aggravated assault charges, he said. The infant was taken to a local hospital as a precaution and is in the custody of state Child Protective Services.

“It appears the suspect put the baby on the roof of the car and drove off, forgetting he was still on the roof,” Holmes said in a written statement.

Police said Clouser and her boyfriend had been smoking marijuana in a park and left with the toddler to buy beer late on Friday night. Officers stopped the car and the boyfriend was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence while driving with the baby in the 2000 Ford Focus.

Police learned that Clouser was so upset about the arrest that she drove to a friend’s home and “admittedly smoked one or two additional bowls of marijuana,” Holmes said.

She left at about midnight with the baby asleep in the car seat, placing the child on top of the vehicle, he said. Clouser apparently did not realize that the baby was missing until she arrived home.

Holmes said witnesses who were friends of the mother advised officers that the child belonged to Clouser. The mother then arrived at the scene and “made admissions to what had occurred.”


What the fuck, teen moms. Why is it so goddamn hard to stop smoking pot and drinking when you have a kid? And you know what? I don't even mean to stop permanently. Lots of parents drink. Lots of parents smoke a little weed. But how dare you be so irresponsible as to do this when there is a creature that can die if you don't pay constant attention to it? Yes, you're fucking 19, but grow the fuck up. Grow a pair. Be a fucking adult. Smoke your weed, but don't fucking drive while intoxicated, and how about only one of you goes out for a beer run while the other stays at the park with the baby? Seriously, taking care of a baby is much, much easier if you actually treat taking care of a baby as, you know, a priority over getting fucked up.

...That was actually what I thought after having read the article in its entirety and had actually had enough time to be outraged. But I couldn't have been the only parent in the world whose first reaction was "OMG THAT POOR GIRL! It finally happened to someone! We all knew it would!"

You want to know why? Because every parent is terrified they will do this, and for the first year of their child's life any time they get near a car while carrying their baby will actively go through a checklist in their head of horrible things not to forget to do, like leaving the baby on top of the car, or leaving the baby on the curb, and will get inside the car and do triple checks to make sure something hasn't gone horribly wrong.

Yes, she was smoking pot and was intoxicated, which is utterly irresponsible and stupid, and yes, teen moms are a depressing phenomenon in general. But I can't tell you how many times I, a completely sober parent, will walk into the house, arms full of groceries, and barge in leaving the door wide open. I'll round the corner and start to go into the kitchen when I realize, agh, fuck, I probably shouldn't leave the door open, and when I turn around, of course my idiot kid has run out the door, and of course I should've done the right thing and put down my groceries first and made sure the door was securely closed before leaving the area. And I don't smoke pot.

So yes, this teen mom was smoking pot, and yes, this teen mom was heading to buy beer, and yes, holy shit, this kid needs to be taken away from his parents until they can prove that they're fit. And oh my god I can't tell you how relieved I am that the baby is okay, and that ultimately everything is going to be alright. But yeah. Every parent has been terrified this was going to happen sooner or later, and all this did was confirm that our paranoia was not unfounded. Stoned or not, that could have been me. And at least this girl has pot and alcohol to blame! Imagine how stupid I'd've looked leaving my kid on the roof of my car and I've never smoked pot!
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with love from CRS @ 2:24 PM 

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