yes.

Bush doesn't like bl... Parents don't like their children.

absofuckinglutely she should be the one facing charges. those guys were framed!

The kid was a Christmas gift.

My question: who tows a running car? Wouldn't they have to at least turn it off, thus going inside and finding the child?

It's a crime for a mother to leave her child unattended, so yes, she should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. doesn't she know she's a woman?! What was she thinking, not spending her every breath and devoting her every action to her child? Could you imagine what the world would be like if all of a sudden all mothers started to leave their children unattended for short periods of time?! CHAOS! Father's have to work of course, and can't be bothered with womanly pursuits like child rearing--no, this is the bad mother's fault that the tow truck operators towed a car away without checking to see if there were passengers first. Of course it's the woman's fault, she's a woman!

This would never happen here in Logan Circle. No double-parked car has ever been towed within a four-block radius of any church in this hood.

She's lucky some sociopath didn't take off with her child. But then I was busy on Saturday.

This happened during daylight hours?!?!?!? How does one drive a tow truck with their head so far up their ass that they can't see a kid in the car? Somebody should call Cirque du Soleil. These are some talented, contortionist-type truck drivers.

Tow truck drivers are all assholes. Let them burn.

1. That's asking to get your car stolen.
2. That's asking to lose your kid.

I'd say it was intentional.

People are so obsessed with safety. Back in the day, parents would think nothing of leaving babies in carriages outside stores while they went shopping. Now, if you don't have your kid smothered in bubble wrap like the Michelin Man, they'll arrest you for child endangerment. So what if she locked the kid in a running car? It's not like the kid was going to drive away or anthing. Just another reason to buy a car with a manual transmission. That, and thieves nowdays don't know how to drive a stick.

Since this woman clearly has no parenting skills, it's up to the community to pull together and tie her and the towtruck diver together with piano wire, throw them in the trunk, and set the vehicle on fire. If this were to happen in DC, the police would rule it a suicide. As it is, the Frederickburg cops will just add it to the Bill Clinton body count.

jtmeyer: It would be equally as wrong for a man to do this. I am a feminist but also realistic and do not give a pass on stupid behavior because it was committed by a woman. Bad parenting is bad parenting regardless of the sex of the adult involved. It is fairly common knowledge that you do not leave your small child out of your line of vision while in an illegally double-parked car with the engine running regardless of the time of day. There are lots of times my husband and I forgo stopping off somewhere because we have kids in tow and couldn't leave them unattended.

The argument that the tow truck driver is guilty of a *felony* is ridiculous. They goofed by not thoroughly inspecting the car, but that hardly rises to the level of a felony...

pretty sad and typical of our culture, though, to blame anyone except the irresponsible parent.

Actually, I usually am sympathetic to car towers. Let's see: person leaves car parked in a way that blocks traffic vs. guy just doing his job. Hmm, I'm going to go with the tower on that one. I understand there have been problems with corrupt towers in DC, but in most cases (although not all) the person whose car got towed was breaking the law. I'm more sympathetic for people towed because of middle-of-the-night emergency parking restrictions, but typically those people only have their car moved, not impounded.

It's not a lot different than people who complain that speed cameras are a form of taxation. So what if they are? You still broke the law. Why should we allow people to speed or block traffic simply because we're afraid of giving those people a bad day?

Towers are just a little below meter maids in my book in terms of people that get unfair sh*t for just doing their jobs, jobs that result in a better outcome for the rest of us at the expense of the unconscientious or self-centered.

Admit it, econosize. That wild ride was the best time of your life. Everything since has been lukewarm consommé at a spinsterish tea party.

Pretty bad when you peak as a tot.

RE: people setting themselves up by leaving things unlocked, idling, or letting their kids ride on the roof of the car.

When most people go to really safe places (i.e. small towns, Nordic countries, Canada, the Congo) and come back saying "wow, the people there are so great, everyone just leaves their doors unlocked, leaves their car running when they drop movies off, it was so nice." Yet if we see that in our part of the world, we beat the windshield in with clubs and set the people on fire before the criminals can get to them- to prove the point. Don't you know you're in hell? No, well let me remind you.

As I say in my humble community, you can't trust your neighbors- because I will make sure of it!

jtmeyer, Are you calling out my mom for not having me in a car seat now? Anyway, I was 5 or 6, not 2. Maybe I should have said youngin' instead of tot. I actually have sort of a fuzzy memory of the incident.

And Monkey, I think you're right. Ever since I've been afraid to try anything new. No wonder I'm a wallflower! Thanks for throwing the lukewarm consomme in my face.

econosize - You know those "fuzzy memories" of vehicular peril are usually an indication of repressed childhood molestation. The same thing happened to me. I was driving along rocking out to The Who's "Tommy" when I suddenly realized I had been molested by my Uncle Ernie, played by Keith Moon. Thousands of dollars of therapy and medication later, I am now an upstanding pillar of the community and deacon in my church where I can molest children and pets with impugnity. Still, I regret the loss of my pinball playing abilities. It's just not the same playing DigDug.

Also, I highly recommend having JOHN G RAPED AND MURDERED YOUR WIFE tatooed on your chest. It's quite a conversation piece and icebreaker at naughty parties.

You should not have sympathy for these tow truck drivers. The companies they hire to monitor these apartment complex lots are usually terrible. We had an incident where the tow truck driver was attempting to tow a car that was legally parked, the owner came out to talk to him (or maybe yell at him), and the driver sprayed him with mace. There was a big fight. They had to call the police. Keep in mind, this is private property, not a city street, in a semi-gated community. So really, wtf.

Also, in this case, the article said the woman was double-parked next to her mother's car. Since she went in to talk to her mother, obviously her mother would not call the tow company on her. She said she was gone for 5 minutes. Should have used her cell phone, but really, the towing company was obviously just preying on the oblivious.