Man charged with felony for letting 6 year old son walk home from school.

**Jessiesgirl1108** · December 11th, 2009, 09:59 AM

POCATELLO – A Pocatello man is in trouble tonight for letting his six-year-old son walk home from school.

Pocatello Police say Scott Richardson allowed his son to walk a couple of blocks to his home from Washington Elementary School. But on the way, the boy decided to walk to his Grandfather's house, on the west side of town, instead. Officers say it was because he thought no one would be at his house.

The boy was located near Pocatello High School, which is just about two miles from where he started.

Temperatures were reported to be about 9 degrees with a wind chill estimated to be around seven below zero.

Richardson is being charged with felony injury to a child.

Police want to remind parents to keep in mind they can't let children walk home in that kind of weather.

http://www.localnews8.com/global/story.asp?s=11650246
Regardless of the weather outside, would you let your 6 year old walk home alone?

**thebooblady** · December 11th, 2009, 10:01 AM

That would depend on where I lived, if walking/biking to school was the norm and other kids walked in groups, and if there were crossing guards.

**Jessiesgirl1108** · December 11th, 2009, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by thebooblady

That would depend on where I lived, if walking/biking to school was the norm and other kids walked in groups, and if there were crossing guards.

I agree, it would depend on how far of a walk it is and if the child would be walking with other children. But from the sounds of this article, the boy was walking home alone...in 9 degree weather at that.

**MC30** · December 11th, 2009, 10:04 AM

the public school that babycrazy attends encourages parents to let their kids walk to school. and its k-6! i say that 6 is too young and 9 degrees is too cold.

**koochie** · December 11th, 2009, 10:05 AM

i have a 6 yr old.....i would never let him walk to school alone or even in a group...they arent mature enough.., his best friend is a 7 yr old girl who ran a block away from me when i was walkign them home one time right out into the street! thank God no cars came.

**Pene784** · December 11th, 2009, 10:07 AM

When I lived in PA I had to walk to and from school and it was pretty darn frigid during the winter. For matter of fact you had to walk if lived within a certain distance from the school and we went home for lunch. Times have most certainly changed. We will have a generation of children who can no longer say" when I was a child I had to walk to and from school in 10 ft of snow up hill both ways barefoot in 20 below zero weather"......

**backlash** · December 11th, 2009, 10:18 AM

Why didn't he just let the kid borrow his car? Selfish prick...

**moonlilly1981** · December 11th, 2009, 10:20 AM

I dont even let my eight year old walk to the bus stop by herself. Neither does her baby sitter. The baby sitter just started to let her two oldest boys walk to the bus stop by themselves and they are in middle school. The bus stop is only right down the street from her house.

**unjaded** · December 11th, 2009, 10:25 AM

My kids have no choice. Since they live within one mile of the school they do not get bus service. I drop them off in the morning on my way to work but they have to walk home because I'm still at work. I didn't send them yesterday because of the weather. The school griped of course, but no way were they walking a mile with a wind chill of -10.

**Little Pea** · December 11th, 2009, 10:52 PM

My kids walk to and from school a few blocks when they are at their dad's, ride the bus from my place. But not when it is that cold. It is below zero here now, and the kids wanted to go out and slide down our hill after school, but I make them stick together always because of the cold, even in our yard. It would be too easy for one of them to get stuck and freeze...in a short time.

And I let them slide, but they came in 20 times, and finally gave up cause it was too cold...and I made them hot chocolate.

**ImmortalOne** · December 12th, 2009, 12:33 AM

If it was that damn cold and the school isn't providing bus services appropriately for families - then close school....

As far as a 6 yr old walking home... my street is about 3/4 of a mile long. The school is at one end (elementary) the middle school is at the other end. I cannot say that I wouldn't let my 6 yr old walk home if I didn't have an opportunity. Or that I wouldn't send one of the older kids to go pick her up. *Shrug* I know in the previous years my 6 yr old had to come home alone off the bus.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · December 12th, 2009, 12:43 AM

This happened in Idaho... the same Idaho where Robert Aragon was found not guilty for letting his kids walk 10 miles in a blizzrd. His 11-year-old daughter died.
http://www.dreamindemon.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=11357

In this case, it seems there is more to the story than initially reported:

A Pocatello father accused of telling his 6-year old boy to walk home in freezing temperatures speaks out defending his actions. Since Local News 8's first report of his arrest, our newsroom has gotten phone calls, emails and comments on our website.

The father is facing injury to a child charges. Many of you have asked could there be more to this story? It turns out there is.

On Tuesday afternoon, Scott Richardson went to pick up his 6-year old son from Washington Elementary. After waiting, Richardson says his son didn't walk out the door he normally does. He went inside only to be told his son was already gone.

"I came running home to try and catch him on the way. By the time I got home, they called me and notified me he had returned to the school so I went ahead and told them to send him down and let him walk home to me. I went out and walked down the street and waited for him on the corner and he never showed up," said Scott Richardson, charged with injury to a child.

Captain Terry Felsman with the Pocatello Police Department says while the boy was trying to walk the four or five blocks home, he got lost and that's why he went back to school. When the school called Richardson they got a different story.

"They called father and asked father to come and get him and father said no let him walk home," said Captain Felsman.

Genevieve: "I have a captain telling me that you said to the school I'm not going to pick up him tell him to walk home."

"That is not true and that is where the controversy lies I believe. It's said that I refuse to pick him up and I spoke with the secretary at the school today and she mentioned the fact that I was there," said Richardson.
[...]

"We don't have any problem with kids walking home from school but usually when kids walk home from school they have hats and gloves and they are dressed for that weather. This young boy was not dressed for six and seven below zero weather," said Felsman.

Felsman says the boy wasn't wearing any socks, gloves or a hat. "I didn't know he didn't have a hat or anything. He usually does but he is quite a rebellious child as they are all are six," said Richardson.

After the school talked to Richardson, Felsman says they gave the 6-year old a note and told him to call when he got home. Why didn't someone at the school call another family member or call police right away? School district officials say they can't comment.
[...]

When the school didn't get a call nearly a half hour later, they called officers. It turns out the boy calls two different places home, Richardson's and his grandfather's house. After leaving the school a second time, the boy tried to walk to his grandfather's home. He was found nearly 16 blocks away from the school.

"He was picked up by someone that was passing by and they were able to get him from there to his grandpa's home," said Felsman.

"He decided he wanted to go elsewhere and you can't control a kid's decision if they make that decision. I just tried to pick my kid up from school and now I'm being accused of injury to a child. I don't think that is appropriate. I think the whole thing is rather absurd," said Richardson.

When the 6-year old was finally found, Felsman says his grandfather says he was very cold but ok. He didn't suffer from any injuries despite not being dressed for the frigid temperatures.
[...]

http://www.localnews8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11659804

**MC30** · December 12th, 2009, 12:48 AM

well now i have even more questions...a parents nightmare? sorry school?

**malq** · December 12th, 2009, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by koochie

i have a 6 yr old.....i would never let him walk to school alone or even in a group...they arent mature enough.., his best friend is a 7 yr old girl who ran a block away from me when i was walkign them home one time right out into the street! thank God no cars came.

for that reason alone, Its not ok to let your six year old go wandering by himself.

**malq** · December 12th, 2009, 02:03 AM

Originally Posted by Pene784

When I lived in PA I had to walk to and from school and it was pretty darn frigid during the winter. For matter of fact you had to walk if lived within a certain distance from the school and we went home for lunch. Times have most certainly changed. We will have a generation of children who can no longer say" when I was a child I had to walk to and from school in 10 ft of snow up hill both ways barefoot in 20 below zero weather"......

I hear ya pene, But did you do this when you were 6? in 9 degree weather and alone?? My parents were pretty liberal with me almost being feral. LOL.
They would have never allowed that.

**crickett** · December 12th, 2009, 02:08 AM

I would have just went and got him. I always walked the two blocks to school with my kids until they were 9 at least. They had to cross two streets to get there. One day someone nearly barreled through a stop sign at the crossing while kids were in the street. They saw me though. I had actually crossed the street but went back to the middle when I saw the van barreling down the road with no apparent intention to stop.
When they did come to a stop I was standing in front of their van yelling "SCHOOL CROSSING ASSHOLE! WHAT PART OF SCHOOL CROSSING DO YOU N-O-T UNDERSTAND???"
You just can't trust people to look out for your kids, especially drivers.
Add to that the brutal cold spell. I would never have let my kids out alone in 9 degree weather. If I couldn't drive down to pick them up, I would at least walk with them. I would also make sure that they had gloves, hat, muffler, warm socks, etc. How this man could not do so is beyond me.
If I were at the school I would have walked him home. They sent him with a note to call when he got home. At least someone was checking up on him.
Thank God the little one didn't freeze to death. He didn't lose fingers/ toes, etc to frostbite.
Dad's kind of an idiot here. What was he doing, having a pissing fit with the school? He should've just went and got the kid.
My 16 year old left without his coat the other day. It was about 20 degrees out. I bundled up and took off after him carrying his jacket. He was actually grateful to get it by the time I caught up with him, about a mile away.

**TDH** · December 12th, 2009, 04:31 AM

6 years old is too gotdamn young to be walking home alone in cold weather. period.
it wouldve been easier for the dad to say tell him to wait n then get off his ass n get back to the school to pick up the boy.....

**malq** · December 12th, 2009, 04:48 AM

All this being said a felony is too harsh. I hate it when we litigate common sense. Dad should be publicly ridiculed and given mandatory parenting classes at his expense.

**TheMeaningOfItAll** · December 12th, 2009, 09:09 AM

Agreed, Malq! Felony is too harsh in this case, if what the father is saying is true. Side note: We live in a "tight-knit" community with small schools/neighborhoods. Our house is a couple of blocks away from the elementary school and there is no way I'd let my 7 year old walk to or from school. I am constantly shocked at people who let their kids walk alone to school. We're talking kindergarten. In the winter. A week or so ago, the school sent a note home saying that some asshole had tried to entice a 15 year old into his car, when the kid refused, he drove around the block and tried again, all the while saying "inappropriate" things. Do you think that note changed anything? Nope. Babies still walking home alone. Oh, if I could change the world!

**Paigey** · December 12th, 2009, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by moonlilly1981

I dont even let my eight year old walk to the bus stop by herself. Neither does her baby sitter. The baby sitter just started to let her two oldest boys walk to the bus stop by themselves and they are in middle school. The bus stop is only right down the street from her house.

Same here. My son is almost 13 and last year was the first year I let him go to the bus stop alone.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, when I was 6 and 7, I was allowed to walk to and from school. It was only a few blocks, but it was definitely a nice little walk. I think my mom was just lazy and crazy and I'm just paranoid.

**Pene784** · December 12th, 2009, 11:32 AM

I hear ya pene, But did you do this when you were 6? in 9 degree weather and alone?? My parents were pretty liberal with me almost being feral. LOL.
They would have never allowed that.

I had walked to and from school since I started. And we lived a mile and a half from the school when I was in Kindergarten (this was in FL, the pedo capital It also sucks to walk in the sweltering heat.) When we moved PA the next year we lived about a mile away from the school. We moved in December and I being a child from Fort Lauderdale, FL had never even seen snow in my life until we got there. I walked to to school, then home for lunch, then back to school and finally home again. I did this everyday and as you know it gets well below zero in PA.
Having said that, I would NEVER let my 6 year old daughter (she is 6 now) walk alone anywhere. For heavens sake I about had a heart attack when she went to another aisle while we were shopping and I didn't notice. There one second and gone the next.
Of course I live in GA where the bus stop is the end of your driveway and kids are encouraged NOT to walk to school. I did have an incident once where she got off of the bus and I had not made it home yet (I usually pull in the driveway from work about 2 minutes before she gets there, but on this day I had a flat tire). She whipped the house key I had given her out of her backpack, let herself in the house, locked the door, and called my cell phone to see if I was okay. I had given her a key "just in case" something ever happened. She showed great responsibility and independence that day. And she loved being home alone for that 30 minutes. She had gotten herself a snack and sat down to watch the Disney channel. Now everyday she hopes I will be late again! And honestly I don't see anything wrong with a 6 year old being home alone for a short time and would let her stay home alone if I wasn't worried about someone reporting us to CPS. ON the other hand I think walking alone on the road just leaves them very vulnerable to any passersby. 6 year olds are very portable and easy to grab.

Ok, I have rambled on and on and on.......