It’s already against the law in California to hold your cellphone up to your ear while you drive. Then throw two young children in the back seat, one with no seatbelt on and the other improperly secured in a child’s seat. And just for good measure, take an infant and place it on the lap of the driver — who, by the way, has a suspended license — and you have the 2012 poster for every anti-distracted driving campaign.
And this is what police in Torrance, CA, accuse one 29-year-old woman of doing while cruising down the 405 freeway.
At least one other driver on the road spotted the woman chatting and texting on her phone with the baby on her lap and contacted the police. When she was pulled over, she was still holding onto the baby, presumably because it would be cruel to put him in the glove compartment.
“Her excuse was that, while she was driving on the 91 Freeway near Compton, the 1-year-old started crying and in an effort to comfort the 1-year-old, she pulled the 1-year-old to the front seat,” a police department rep tells CBS Los Angeles.
The mom of the year candidate was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment, and the three children were taken into protective custody.
Woman Accused Of Texting While Driving With Baby On Her Lap [CBS Los Angeles]
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Is that a neck tattoo or a Chia Pet?
After close collaboration with the National Security Agency and their Photographic Enhancement Unit, we have determined that it is indeed a Spongebob Chia Pet‚Ñ¢ growing out of her neck.
Neck tattoos are the tackiest…
I have a neck boil, it’s kinda tacky right now. wanna see?
What? no doggie on her lap with it’s head out the window, too?
To be fair, I intentionally use distractions as a handicap because I’m such an awesome driver I just don’t want people getting jealous.
but what will stop her from driving again?
natural selection
There is no reason for a mother to do this. If the baby is crying, pull your ass over and take care of it. don’t endager the child like that. If I am driving with my kids in the car and the baby starts crying because she needs a diaper change or is hungry, simple – I pull over and handle the situation. People like that make me sick and should be dealt with appropriately by the authorities
Thank you! I have a 7 month old who does have the occasional meltdown but I have never had the thought that it would be a good idea to hold her in my damn lap. I trust my driving but no one else’s and if I lost my baby because I couldn’t take a few minutes to pull over I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLjIve_hPIw
To be fair, talking on a phone while driving; bad. giving news report and texting on camera while driving; okay?
it’s probably just stock footage. also, there is no indication that the car is moving while someone is texting from the driver’s seat.
Even if something awful had happened to the children, chances are that Shawndeeia would have more of them.
Kids are like Doritos to people like this. “Take all you want, we’ll just make more.”
Next, they will be made into taco shells.
Soylent Orange!
All children are interchangeable. See Bible, Book of Job.
Man, I was all ready to chastise you on using a racial stereotype, then I went to the article and discovered that’s really her name.
Dammit.
“the 1-year-old started crying”
Pull the f**k over!
“suspended license”
Don’t f*****g drive!
Six children who have already been taken away before. How about JAIL?
How about the local humane society for spay surgery?
Some people really should be sterilized.
Was she supporting the kids or were we?
I don’t understand. How else is she supposed to go buy cigarettes?
amazon.com?
You should be required to pass tests and get licensed to breed.
Sometimes, Eugenics is ok. This is one of those times. In fact, honestly, she’s too stupid to waste my oxygen anymore. Please remove her from the population and we will be better off as a society.
While I find this article entertaining…I gotta say…where is the consumer angle?
The cell phone was from AT&T, WCIA #3
While I understand your sentiment, sometimes I DGAF when the story is sufficiently entertaining. I prefer an article like this compared to, say, one on 5 new uses for dental floss.
I do too…but to me, this is more like what I’d find on reddit (not saying that in a bad way). Also, I can’t access reddit here, but I can access this site…so I don’t mind.
new uses for dental floss:
* Make Your Own String Bikinis At Home.
* After seeing Cat in a biking, tie one end of floss to door knob and the other end to a knitting needle. Pierce eye with needle. Slam door shut. Repeat with other eye.
Cat, is that you?
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EjcRQm-xgFU/TVszs_ukqjI/AAAAAAAAAvw/8R_-um1a-g8/s1600/Borat_280_426010a.jpg
Hey BSL…I have a question.
Minus the cellphone, sounds like my parents and all of their friends in the ’70s…
We kids used to hang out on the rear deck of my dads gold Duster
and Buick Lesabre while trying to get the truck drivers to honk their horns.
I blame EA for this. Not sure why but in my gamer universe, it feels right.
This morning, I saw someone driving a huge SUV with a little dog on her lap, sticking its head out the window and generally being in the way. Needless to say, I gave her wide berth.
She had multiple chances, now she gets thrown in jail for 6 months. Then, if she’s ever caught driving again, it’s 5 years.
Basically, this woman should never, ever be allowed to drive the rest of her life. If possible, I’d cut off her hands just because stupidity should be painful
What does this story have to do with empowering consumers by informing and entertaining them about the top consumer issues of the day?
Because the woman was talking on a cell phone and some cellphone companies have poor customer service and engage in consumer-unfriendly behavior.
Also, she was driving a car and the Ford Pinto is a car. A car that would catch fire and that is bad for consumers.
It’s the “interstate commerce” clause for the internet!
It’s an explanation as to why the uninsured motorist portion of auto insurance rates are so high.
Yes, because on a slow news day, speciality blogs don’t bend the rules a little bit.
It’s no different than torrentfreak. See the name? TORRENT freak? Well, they are reporting on the ongoing megaupload case and other filelocker activities. Last I checked, downloading a file via an HTTP connection is not considered bittorrent.
But, in reality, your just an entitled brat who thinks a blog should only report on news that affects them personally. I read consumerist despite the fact that 90% of the articles here don’t affect me as I’m Canadian. Still, I read it as I find it amusing.
Sorry you’re having such a bad day.
From TorrentFreak.com’s about page:
TorrentFreak is where news and filesharing collide.
So yes, I would expect TorrentFreak to discuss Megaupload.
From Consumerist’s about page:
The Consumerist empowers consumers by informing and entertaining them about the top consumer issues of the day. We are a leading online resource for consumer-driven advice about dealing with everything from non-existent customer service to onerous cell-phone contracts to ever-shrinking (and ever-more-expensive) grocery products.
Clearly this article belongs on Jalopnik.
This is much funnier the way I initially read it.
At least one other driver on the road spotted the woman chatting and texting on her phone while the baby on her lap contacted the police.
I guess none of the fathers were around to help out.
All six of them are probably in San Quentin.
Ahem…the proper term is “baby daddy”. Thank you.
To be fair… who isn’t scantilly clad on FB?
…sending Friend request to Verucalise (Est.February2008)
This sounds like the norm in Indiana.
I know a woman that can talk on a cell phone and double-pump breast milk while flying down the interstate.
“…seen here scantilly clad on her Facebook page…”
LOL
“We also heard that sometimes she lies about her age, AND she forgot her mom’s birthday last year. This is Amanda Burden with KCAL-9, the impartial choice for news.”
The infant already has a suspended license? whoa.
We had one up in Maine a while back, I think the bagged her doing over 90 mph; she was watching Gilmore Girls on a device, and her excuse was “it helped her stay awake”. Best part is they couldn’t charge her, as apparently the law is no TV, but she was watching on a laptop.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=20080711&id=MxI9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=jC4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=2795,2450053
Wasn’t there a guy a while ago who was caught drunk, doing drugs and having sex in the back seat while driving? That sounds way more distracted than this lady.
Sounds more like a normal Saturday night in the seventies for me.
“Bail was set at $131,000.”
Not. High. Enough.
I was driving to work in Atlanta one morning when I noticed the woman in the lane next to me was reading a book, holding it open across her steering wheel. Now, I like to read but I’m also pretty fond of not causing wrecks, too; sad to say, that was actually pretty tame for an ATL rush hour driver. One of the first things I noticed after moving away was that the evening news no longer began with the daily wreck related death toll.
I was driving to work in Atlanta one morning when I noticed the woman in the lane next to me was reading a book, holding it open across her steering wheel. Now, I like to read but I’m also pretty fond of not causing wrecks, too; sad to say, that was actually pretty tame for an ATL rush hour driver. One of the first things I noticed after moving away was that the evening news no longer began with the daily wreck related death toll.
My dad said he saw that numerous times when he drove a big rig. He said he would look down and see people were always doing a million other things than actually driving. Eating, dressing, reading, etc.
I guess they wouldn’t let her bring her stroller on the bus.
What’s the big deal about the kids in the back? If you’re driving a pickup truck, the kids can ride in the back any way they want, not restrained at all.
The texting + baby in car = definitely bad. But her license is already suspended. So I say we revoke her uterus. 3 kids getting that bad of a role model is far too many already.
Same babydaddy??
Wadda want to bet she also does’t have insurance as required by law? Why get insurance if your license is suspended?
MOM: She started crying while I was on the freeway, so I pulled her into my lap to comfort her.
COP: Okay, so where’s the carseat she was in before you pulled her into your lap?
MOM: Oh, I just have my 2-year-old in the unsecured carseat hold her. Isn’t it sweet how siblings share?
MOM: She started crying while I was on the freeway, so I pulled her into my lap to comfort her.
COP: Okay, so where’s the carseat she was in before you pulled her into your lap?
MOM: Oh, I just have my 2-year-old in the unsecured carseat hold her. Isn’t it sweet how siblings share?