Arrested for "Free-range kids"
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Connecticut Parents Arrested for Letting Kids, Ages 7 and 9, Walk to Dunkin' Donuts
It was Super Bowl Sunday in February of 2019. Cynthia Rivers and her husband decided that their kids, ages seven and nine, deserved a long-promised treat for cleaning their rooms: the right to walk to Dunkin' Donuts by themselves. (Reason has changed her name to protect the family's anonymity.)
This was in Killingly, Connecticut, a suburban town in the northeast part of the state. The Rivers' lived near an elementary school, library, state police barracks, sidewalks, crosswalks, many Victorian-style homes, and the aforementioned donut shop. The kids gathered $7, and off they went.
A few minutes later, the River parents heard a knock at the door. It was the police.
The first cop to show up "said he didn't think it was safe for the kids to walk by themselves," Rivers tells Reason. "We told him that while we did feel it was safe, we agreed to not allow them to walk around town unsupervised."
"We thought that would have been the end of it," Rivers added, "until three more officers showed up."
The first cop sent Rivers' husband to retrieve the kids, who had only made it about two blocks. Then mom, dad, and the kids faced a barrage of questions.
"They told us that it wasn't safe for kids to walk down the street, that there are registered sex offenders all over town that could take them, that drug dealers were going to give them drugs, and that it was 'a different world now,'" says Rivers.
She tried to dispute what the police were saying, and one of them asked if she watched the news.
The police report, which was reviewed by Reason, makes clear that the police were obsessed with the possibility of sex offenders harming the children. Indeed, they pressed the Rivers to search the sex offender registry to learn which of their neighbors were on it.
The officers also claimed that they had received a dozen 911 calls about the kids during the short time they were gone. Rivers thought this was unlikely, as they had only made it past four other homes. But whatever the rationale, the officers proceeded to charge Rivers' husband with risk of injury to a minor. They charged Rivers separately for the same thing. Then they arrested her husband and took him away.
"I tried to convince the officers that we weren't doing anything wrong," says Rivers. "This was obviously futile, but I had to try. Then I went back inside to help with the kids. I found out later from my husband that after I went inside, the arresting officer said to him, 'If she talks to me again, I'm going to arrest you both and take away your kids.'"
Rivers husband was back home quickly after the arrest, and they began searching for a lawyer. But a few days later, a police sergeant visited the house and let the Rivers know that they were dropping the charges. He admitted that the law concerning child negligence was open to interpretation on the question of letting kids walk by themselves. Happily, the Rivers told the lawyer that his services wouldn't be necessary after all, because everything was settled.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. The police charges had gone away, but the Department of Children and Families (DCF) pursued its own investigation.
The DCF caseworker visited the family twice and interviewed everyone about their complete history.
"She was looking for problems," says Rivers.
Rivers tried to explain to the caseworker that the police had overreacted, but the caseworker maintained that the parents had somehow jeopardized their kids safety. When Rivers revealed that she had received therapy for depression some years before, the caseworker weaponized this information—and insisted she return to therapy.
Eventually, DCF closed the case, too. While this may seem like a happy ending, it has had a lasting, negative impact. Rivers says she waited three years—until her daughter turned 12—to let her go for another walk unsupervised.
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You know, the good old days weren't the good old days. I admit, we have more perverts today, but if you look at crime statistics (especially in middle and upper class neighborhoods) I don't think there is a huge difference in crimes per thousand people.
What is different is perception, driven by the media, both MSM and Social.
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You know, the good old days weren't the good old days. I admit, we have more perverts today, but if you look at crime statistics (especially in middle and upper class neighborhoods) I don't think there is a huge difference in crimes per thousand people.
What is different is perception, driven by the media, both MSM and Social.
@Jolly said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
What is different is perception, driven by the media, both MSM and Social.
" they had received a dozen 911 calls about the kids during the short time they were gone"
The kids were four houses away, FFS.
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@Jolly said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
What is different is perception, driven by the media, both MSM and Social.
" they had received a dozen 911 calls about the kids during the short time they were gone"
The kids were four houses away, FFS.
@George-K said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
@Jolly said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
What is different is perception, driven by the media, both MSM and Social.
" they had received a dozen 911 calls about the kids during the short time they were gone"
The kids were four houses away, FFS.
It's freaking Connecticut. What the hell else did they expect in the Land of the Lemmings? Your choice is either move out west, or put ankle monitors on your kids.
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Land of the Lemmings?
“Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”
Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton
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@Jolly said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
Land of the Lemmings?
Go hang out there for awhile. I've cousins there, and their parents.
Connecticut folk decide where and what to eat based on the shit they find on TikTok.
They only let their kids play at parks with good Yelp reviews.
Their social conversation consists of sharing the things their favorite influencers recently peddled to them. They talk about buying the shit as if it's an accomplishment.
They hire people to mow their lawns, clean their houses, clean their cars. Also based entirely on online reviews. They joke about being incompetent because hiring help is a bit of a flex in their world.Look, some of them, I'm sure, are fine people. But you can't tell me the average motherfucker in New London is living as independently as a Casper, WY family.
Please love yourself.
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@Jolly said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
Land of the Lemmings?
Go hang out there for awhile. I've cousins there, and their parents.
Connecticut folk decide where and what to eat based on the shit they find on TikTok.
They only let their kids play at parks with good Yelp reviews.
Their social conversation consists of sharing the things their favorite influencers recently peddled to them. They talk about buying the shit as if it's an accomplishment.
They hire people to mow their lawns, clean their houses, clean their cars. Also based entirely on online reviews. They joke about being incompetent because hiring help is a bit of a flex in their world.Look, some of them, I'm sure, are fine people. But you can't tell me the average motherfucker in New London is living as independently as a Casper, WY family.
@Aqua-Letifer said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
Go hang out there for awhile.
Actually, you might like it there for a visit, @Jolly.
The Colt Collection is in the Connecticut History Museum right across the state Capitol, sharing a building with the state library.
The Colt Armory was there, now part of the Coltsville Historic District, slated to become part of the Coltsville Historical National Park. -
@Jolly said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
Land of the Lemmings?
Go hang out there for awhile. I've cousins there, and their parents.
Connecticut folk decide where and what to eat based on the shit they find on TikTok.
They only let their kids play at parks with good Yelp reviews.
Their social conversation consists of sharing the things their favorite influencers recently peddled to them. They talk about buying the shit as if it's an accomplishment.
They hire people to mow their lawns, clean their houses, clean their cars. Also based entirely on online reviews. They joke about being incompetent because hiring help is a bit of a flex in their world.Look, some of them, I'm sure, are fine people. But you can't tell me the average motherfucker in New London is living as independently as a Casper, WY family.
@Aqua-Letifer I sense hostility to your New England brethren.
The bits I've been to were filled with a whole lot of trees, and very little else. Maybe as you get closer to the urban center of New London, things change.
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@Aqua-Letifer I sense hostility to your New England brethren.
The bits I've been to were filled with a whole lot of trees, and very little else. Maybe as you get closer to the urban center of New London, things change.
@Doctor-Phibes said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
@Aqua-Letifer I sense hostility to your New England brethren.
The bits I've been to were filled with a whole lot of trees, and very little else. Maybe as you get closer to the urban center of New London, things change.
New London's okay, plenty of other worse places. But the mentality up there is very, very different. This article doesn't surprise me.And I know it's insane, but I'm of the opinion that seeing their kids in this way could be somewhat related to how they live themselves.
Please love yourself.
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@Aqua-Letifer said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
Go hang out there for awhile.
Actually, you might like it there for a visit, @Jolly.
The Colt Collection is in the Connecticut History Museum right across the state Capitol, sharing a building with the state library.
The Colt Armory was there, now part of the Coltsville Historic District, slated to become part of the Coltsville Historical National Park.@Axtremus said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
@Aqua-Letifer said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
Go hang out there for awhile.
Actually, you might like it there for a visit, @Jolly.
The Colt Collection is in the Connecticut History Museum right across the state Capitol, sharing a building with the state library.
The Colt Armory was there, now part of the Coltsville Historic District, slated to become part of the Coltsville Historical National Park.Ah, come for the guns, stay for the submarines...
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@Doctor-Phibes said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
@Aqua-Letifer I sense hostility to your New England brethren.
The bits I've been to were filled with a whole lot of trees, and very little else. Maybe as you get closer to the urban center of New London, things change.
New London's okay, plenty of other worse places. But the mentality up there is very, very different. This article doesn't surprise me.And I know it's insane, but I'm of the opinion that seeing their kids in this way could be somewhat related to how they live themselves.
@Aqua-Letifer said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
@Doctor-Phibes said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
@Aqua-Letifer I sense hostility to your New England brethren.
The bits I've been to were filled with a whole lot of trees, and very little else. Maybe as you get closer to the urban center of New London, things change.
New London's okay, plenty of other worse places. But the mentality up there is very, very different. This article doesn't surprise me.And I know it's insane, but I'm of the opinion that seeing their kids in this way could be somewhat related to how they live themselves.
What's funny is that we were looking at places towards the Rhode Island/Connecticut border, and they're really different there, in completely the opposite direction. New England hillbillies is how one person described them. Considering the overall area, it's quite surprising how remote some parts are, then you drive for 20 minutes and its civilization again.
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@Jolly said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
Land of the Lemmings?
Go hang out there for awhile. I've cousins there, and their parents.
Connecticut folk decide where and what to eat based on the shit they find on TikTok.
They only let their kids play at parks with good Yelp reviews.
Their social conversation consists of sharing the things their favorite influencers recently peddled to them. They talk about buying the shit as if it's an accomplishment.
They hire people to mow their lawns, clean their houses, clean their cars. Also based entirely on online reviews. They joke about being incompetent because hiring help is a bit of a flex in their world.Look, some of them, I'm sure, are fine people. But you can't tell me the average motherfucker in New London is living as independently as a Casper, WY family.
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My gawd, it sounds like their favourite colour is beige and consume store bought sliced white bread loaves.
@Renauda said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
My gawd, it sounds like their favourite colour is beige and consume store bought sliced white bread loaves.
Sounds right, actually.
Eggshell instead of beige but yeah.
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When my son had just turned 10 we were visiting Vienna. On maybe our second day there, I handed him 10€ and the keys to our airbnb and he walked down the street by himself to get ice cream.
They’ll end up, after a lot of drama, with the same formula they use every time they have a trifecta: take away health care and food assistance from low income families and use the money to fund tax cuts for their donors.
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When my son had just turned 10 we were visiting Vienna. On maybe our second day there, I handed him 10€ and the keys to our airbnb and he walked down the street by himself to get ice cream.
@jon-nyc said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
When my son had just turned 10 we were visiting Vienna. On maybe our second day there, I handed him 10€ and the keys to our airbnb and he walked down the street by himself to get ice cream.
I think I saw him wandering around wondering where his dad was! LOL
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When my son had just turned 10 we were visiting Vienna. On maybe our second day there, I handed him 10€ and the keys to our airbnb and he walked down the street by himself to get ice cream.
@jon-nyc said in Arrested for "Free-range kids":
When my son had just turned 10 we were visiting Vienna. On maybe our second day there, I handed him 10€ and the keys to our airbnb and he walked down the street by himself to get ice cream.
Next year - Amsterdam!
