Iowa Mom Leaves 12-Year-Old Son on the Side of the Road

33-year-old Shameka King of Council Bluffs has been accused of child endangerment and abandonment after leaving her son on the side of the road after he threw a temper tantrum.

Back in September, a call was made to police about a boy walking alongside the on-ramp to I-80. He was stopped while walking through the parking lot of an American Inn, and told the officers that he lived at the hotel with his mother and that she was at work. When asked why he was alone, he said that he had been in an argument with his mom and gotten out of the car at an intersection on the way to school. She said that she didn't have time for his tantrum and didn't want to be late to work, so she left him there. The boy had no phone, money, or a key, so officers called his mother and said she, “downplay[ed] the seriousness of leaving her son alongside the road." The boy was then taken into protective custody.

Not long after, King called back telling a different story, and then called 9-1-1 to report that her son ran away. Her arraignment is set for February 20th.

[Via Daily Nonperiel]