Getting our children ready for school each day can be a hefty task at times. Getting them a good breakfast, making sure they get dressed, pack their lunch, make sure they have their homework and so much more is what all parents deal with from Monday Thru Friday.
Once that is done, we say “I love you” give them a hug and hope they enjoy their day as they step out the door for school. As they leave, we can only hope they will be safe making it to school and back from school each day.
The next conversation we usually expect to have with them is about how their day went and what they did in science class – but we never expect that it will begin with a knock on the front door from a police officer.
One mom never thought something like this could happen between her house and the school…
As many other children do, 11-year-old Autumn Blanchard walks alone to the bus stop each morning. And, in order to make the distance just a bit shorter, she would pass through her neighbor’s lawn rather than staying on the street.
Apparently, the neighbor asked the 6th grader not to cut through her yard – so, when Autumn continued to “trespass,” the neighbor decided to involve the police.
Autumn explained,
“I wasn’t doing anything. I wasn’t doing anything to their lawn.”
When the Harwich Police Department responded to the call, Autumn was not simply given a warning. Rather, she was handed three “Notice of No Trespass” slips, and told that if she walks through her neighbor’s lawn again she could be arrested.
Autumn’s mother was understandably bothered by how the situation was chosen to be handled. She told NBC,
“I still feel like a note in the mailbox would have been more appropriate than taking it to such an extreme level. I mean, that’s the first point of contact.”
The neighbor however, feels very differently about how she decided to address the “trespassing” – and explains that she had a good reason for choosing to involve the police department. She shared her “side of the story” with NBC saying,
“I think the biggest thing is not realizing the dangers that were in the backyard that she was cutting through.”
The neighbor went on explain that her mother was sued by a family years ago, when a little girl broke her leg on their property. And as it turns out, a large tree recently fell in her yard during a snowstorm – a tree which Autumn had been climbing over to pass through the yard. The neighbor said that she was fearful of the “suing situation” happening again, and that’s when she decided to involve the police.
Interestingly enough however, the police department seems to be siding with Autumn in this “cutting through” case…
Harwich Police Chief released a statement saying,
“A written no trespass order is only one of several options that are available to the police when dealing with a complaint of this nature. In this particular situation… It should have been one of the last options utilized rather than the first.”
Watch the video below for the full story and interview.
As parents, we may worry about our children “cutting class” or “cutting school” – let this be an important reminder that “cutting through yards” is a punishable offense as well. Share this story with your friends and family, and spread “trespassing” awareness.
