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Four Young Children Abandoned in Car while K-Mart Staff Gawk at Concerned Citizens As promised, I will now give you the letter we're sending around to the media regarding the abandoned kids. I'd like to state that this is written from Dan's point of view because my trip to the loo caused me to miss half of it. I did, however, get the right plate number and help track this woman down. Hopefully, one of the local papers will give a rat's ass and run this thing. If anyone else cares, feel free to email me. We could use some more people protesting this. It seems the problem of children being left in cars is big news these days. However, I've found that at least a portion of our society still doesn't care. During a visit to the Maple Rd. K-Mart in Ann Arbor on 10/31/04 at 3pm(store #4105), I witnessed a black woman leaving her 4 small (1-4 yrs. old) children in her car while returning merchandise, and then shopping for more. On her first trip inside, she walked halfway in and returned to her car. I then entered the store, and saw her re-enter without her children. She dropped off a package to the customer service/return desk and walked toward the rear of the store. I requested to 3 employees that were present at the service desk, to report this incident to the authorities. Of these three employees, the only one to attempt assistance was a black female employee who followed me out to the car to confirm the allegation. After seeing the four children in the car (Plate MI # WQM 453) she then took a physical description of the mother, found her shopping in the store, and warned her that the police were being called. The mother then retrieved her package from customer service, and quickly left the premises while I used the service desk phone (the only help offered from the customer service clerk) to dial 911. I phoned 911 to report the incident, gave a description of the vehicle (gray mid-80s Honda civic), the licence plate #, and account of the incident, which they claimed they passed on to the Ann Arbor Police even though I informed them that the mother was leaving the premisis. They claimed that they still wanted the information and police would be searching in the direction we gave them for that vehicle. I followed in the direction the mother drove, and discovered her half a block up the street in the Kroger's on South Maple. This time, she had taken her children with her, but the police were nowhere to be found. We then phoned the Ann Arbor Police's main line. Unfortunately, we called during a shift change at 3pm and our previous report from 911 was not at hand. We were told that nothing could be done because she had to be caught in the act, however, the report was on file.
I hope this letter moves you to investigate the management of the Maple Rd. K-Mart, if nothing else. I am quite surprised at the lack of consideration for these young children. In fact, I cannot believe that I had to call 911 myself while several employees gawked. I know that this woman probably will not face child abuse charges, despite my report, nonetheless I feel that she should be held accountable so others will know not to repeat this behavior. I believe that by speaking out against this incident you will show society where you stand on this issue, and I truly hope that you have the courage to pursue this. Otherwise, I wonder how bad society will become when we can't even get help for four small children whose mother obviously doesn't care. Thank you, Dan H. |