Posted on 02/09/2012 5:44:36 AM PST by armymarinemom
MEMPHIS, TN -
(WMC-TV) – Police say a two-year-old pointed a gun at them while they were checking on a report that the child and its siblings were left alone in a car while their mother got her nails done.
It was a bizarre twist of events that left other customers wondering why a mother would leave her kids alone in such a dangerous environment.
"It's a crying shame," said Nicole Eubanks, after she heard about the arrest of 23-year-old Erica Rooks. "It doesn't make any sense."
Rooks is charged with marijuana possession, unlawful possession of a weapon and three counts of leaving a child unattended in a vehicle.
Police say Rooks left a four-year-old, a two-year-old and a nine-month-old alone in her car, where she kept a loaded gun, while she was getting a manicure at Beautiful Nails Salon.
"I don't care if I've got 22 kids," Eubanks said. "If I feel like going to get my nails did. I'm going to line them all up and we fixing to sit in that… nail shop. It's ridiculous!"
The incident happened last Friday in the 4200 block of Summer Avenue.
When officers arrived, they found the children in a black Chevy Impala with the car still running. The car windows were fogged up and the children were jumping back and forth between the front and back seats, according to police.
Rooks told police she went inside the salon to use the bathroom, but an officer saw her name on the salon's list for a full nail service.
Police also said while Rooks was looking for her driver's license, she pulled a bag of marijuana out of her coat pocket and hid it in her center car console. An officer eventually found the bag in her car.
During the incident, police also saw one of the children pointing what looked like a silver handgun at them. An officer took the gun and saw it was real and loaded with three rounds.
"You want the kids to kill themselves in the car too," said Eubanks. "That's just crazy!"
Rooks has been released from the Shelby County Jail on $5,000 bond.
I scrub on my hands and knees daily two bathrooms and a kitchen and I have my nails done. They are very resilient
I had not read the comments until you pointed them out. But, Wow! Off to take a shower after that....
I live in the Memphis area. I see plenty of white people do stupid things everyday.
Both white people
Geez she was having a bad day!
Start out all happy because you got to cash your welfare check and get your nails done all pretty...
...and the cops nail you for leaving the kids alone in a car.
THEN you pull a bag of weed out of your purse...
THEN one of the kids points your illegal gun at the cops...
now that the start of a bad day!
Well, clearly the moral of the story is that we need:
a) Much tighter gun control laws.
b) Free childcare for “underprivileged” women who want to get their hair and nails done. I am on the fence as to whether this should be done through direct subsidies to the mothers or by mandating that all hair and nail salons provide a childcare center with a licensed staff, dietitian (we simultaneously have an “epidemic of childhood obesity” and a “hunger crisis” among poor children, you know), and registered nurse on duty at all times. All these workers would have to be unionized, of course.
am i the only one that half expected the cops to either shoot or arrest the kid with the gun?
*Of course* the kid had a gun!
What kind of mother would leave her under-4 year old kids in the car in a rough Memphis neighborhood without a gun to defend themselves?? That’s just bad parenting, right there.
And I thought FreeRepublic was pro-2nd amendment... ;)
What I don’t understand is why the cops didn’t shoot the kid at least 40 times, kill every dog on the block, rough up some old ladies, and burn down the hair salon just to be sure.
Isn’t that standard protocol these days?
They don't even have to endorse the welfare check any more, what with direct deposit and the food stamp debit cards...
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