A couple spent a night in jail while their child was abducted by Child Protective Services (CPS). Obviously these two parents must have done something fairly heinous for end up in jail while their child was taken by the state right? Wrong:
“We walked a long way to the grocery store and I was feeling faint, dizzy, like I needed to eat something so we decided to pick up some sandwiches and eat them while we were shopping,” Leszczynski told the news station.
Leszczynski, who is 30-weeks pregnant, her husband, Marcin, and daughter Zophia bought $50 worth of groceries — but forgot about their two chicken salad sandwiches.
“It was a complete distraction, distracted parent moment,” Leszczynski told KHON.
As the family left, they were stopped by store security, who asked for their receipt.
“I offered to pay, we had the cash. We just bought the groceries,” Leszczynski told the station.
Instead, the expectant mother told KHON that the Safeway manager called police. They were taken to the main Honolulu police station where they were booked for fourth degree theft. Then Zophia was taken into custody by Child Protective Services.
All of this over two $5.00 sandwiches. While I’m not one to ever defend theft I think it’s pretty believable that the parents simply forgot to pay for the sandwiches considering they paid for the other $50.00 of groceries. They also offered to pay for the sandwiches before the police were called, if I were the store owner I’d have simply taken the money for the sandwiches and called it a day. Really, how wants to get the police involved over $10.00? It’s going to cost far more than $10.00 in taxpayer money by the time the police drive to the store and investigate the matter.
Hell if I were the police officer who arrived at the “scene” I would have simply told the couple to pay for the sandwiches and get the fuck out of my sight. The overreaction of our society is getting out of hand and it’s costing use a fortune in money and unnecessary stress. A little common sense, ladies and gentlemen, is what we desperately need.