I saw this sign in Fairfield Connecticut last week.
It’s part of Connecticut law enforcement’s campaign targeted for parents and nannies and babysitters who leave children unsupervised in the car.
Believe it or not, it’s a crime in Fairfield County Connecticut to leave your child unsupervised in a car—often a misdemeanor and sometimes even charged as a felony. Even worse, many of the best criminal attorneys and lawyers in Fairfield, Greenwich and Stamford Connecticut are seeing mug shots for people arrested for Unsupervised Child in Car plastered all over the internet, causing them embarrassment and headaches in their professional and personal lives.
Here’s how to start getting your case dismissed and how to get your Unsupervised Child in Car arrest off the internet and Google…
Leaving a child under 12 in your car during the daytime is a Class A misdemeanor. Even if you’re just running in to Starbucks or dropping off clothes at the cleaners. During certain evening hours, the police can actually arrest you for a felony.
Top Fairfield and Greenwich Connecticut criminal attorneys lawyers also see police frequently arrest parents for felony Risk of Injury CGS 53-21 for unsupervised children in the car cases, especially when the conditions are particularly dangerous, such as an extraordinarily hot or cold day, or if the kids are caught playing with controls in the driver’s seat. The problem with these two charges is that the felony Risk of Injury crime applies to children under 16, while the misdemeanor applies only to kids under 12.
So which is it? It’s both actually—and despite the clarity of Connecticut’s criminal penal code, police continue to make arrests in Connecticut for the Felony 16-and-under Risk of Injury charge in unsupervised child in car cases, even though the misdemeanor is the more appropriate crime to charge.
So no matter which charge you’re facing, contact a Connecticut criminal lawyer before you go to court, and before a DCF investigator shows up at your door.
As many of the top Connecticut DCF investigation lawyers and attorneys know, every arrest in Connecticut for CGS 53-21a Unsupervised Child in Car (and CGS 53-21 Risk of Injury) triggers a Connecticut Department of Children & Families (DCF) investigation.
DCF investigators are not the police, but they are still considered law enforcement, and have the authority to seek court orders to interfere with your parental rights. They can move the court to compel you take parenting classes, required supervised visitation with your kids, and in extreme circumstances, temporarily remove your children from your home and put them in foster care.
When you get arrested in Connecticut for Unsupervised Child in Car / Risk of Injury CGS 53-21, the police—as mandated DCF reporters—are required to launch a DCF investigation of abuse and neglect against you and your family. So make sure you’re prepared for this months-long investigation and know that you have rights to say NO to DCF and that you can push back against onerous requests by DCF that affect your time with your children.
The team of attorneys at the Mark Sherman Law Firm routinely fight CGS 53-21 and CGS 53-21a charges for Risk of Injury / Unsupervised Child in Car. We work quickly with our clients and their families to close the DCF investigation and then leverage the favorable DCF findings in the Stamford, Bridgeport and Norwalk criminal courts to ensure the quickest resolution possible, which is usually a dismissal.
So check out our certified reviews from our former clients on the Avvo.com website and then contact us today. We can be reached at (203) 358-4700.
