The dad and mom who left their toddler alone on a Florida seaside thought it wouldn’t be an issue as a result of the child often napped across the time they allegedly walked off for over an hour.
Brian Wilks and his excessive flying healthcare exec spouse Sara Sommers Wilks, of Texas, gave the beautiful clarification to police ready with their little one after they returned to her round midday on October 10 — almost an hour after they allegedly left the child lady alone whereas they went for a stroll down Miramar Seaside with their three older children.
“Mr. Wilks said that the toddler often naps throughout this time and was asleep after they left the toddler within the tent unattended,” an arrest report from the Walton County Sheriff’s Workplace obtained by The Publish learn.
“The defendant said that they misplaced observe of time and didn’t notice how lengthy they’d been gone,” the report added, noting the dad and mom left with their children round 11:10 a.m., and didn’t return till round 12:06 p.m.
Witnesses watched the dad and mom stroll off down the seaside with their three older children in tow — with Wilks telling investigators the older children had “run off” first, and so they chased after them and carried on for a stroll collectively whereas their child was bedded right down to sleep.
When bystanders realized a child had been left alone underneath the tent – with its dad and mom nowhere in sight for a while — they flagged down a safety guard from a close-by resort and the police had been referred to as.
Good Samaritans scooped up the child lady and tended to her whereas they waited for police or the dad and mom to reach – with Wilks and Sommers, 40 and 37, being arrested after they got here strolling again. The infant was discovered to be wholesome and unhurt.
They had been charged with neglect with out nice bodily hurt and spent an evening in jail earlier than posting $1,000 bail, whereas their 4 children had been held by little one companies till a relative picked them up.
However some individuals questioned whether or not the regulation enforcement response and costs had been excessive – with some commenters on a sheriff’s workplace Fb put up in regards to the arrest saying that just a few many years in the past their dad and mom would have achieved the identical with them.
“In as we speak’s society, that is loopy. Within the 80s, individuals would have mentioned ‘Properly it was sleeping. It didn’t miss something,’” one individual wrote. “In Florida we’d say one thing like ‘We put a blanket on him to maintain away the seagulls.’ Once I was 4 and my mother caught me on a aircraft alone from Fl- St. Louis. Only a kiss and a few crayons!”
“I don’t suppose they meant to be neglectful. I can simply see how this might occur on the seaside with a napping infant,” one other wrote. “I don’t know why one father or mother didn’t keep nearer by, however I’m additionally not a fan of the regulation intervening on households.”
“If the child had been harmed or damage, then the story could also be totally different, but when child was OK, I feel the regulation ought to’ve stayed out of it,” they added.
Nonetheless, others thought leaving an toddler unattended on a public seaside was unacceptable – it doesn’t matter what 12 months it’s.
“As a mom, this blows my thoughts I can’t even use the lavatory with out freaking out with out having eyes on my daughter. That poor child,” one individual wrote
