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SACRAMENTO — A Sacramento mother faces jail time for letting her 4-year-old son play alone at an outdoor playground 120 feet from her front door.
“He was outside and the neighbor called the cops on us,” the boy’s mother, Sonya Hendren, said.
Hendren told FOX40 her 4-year-old son Tomahawk Hendren displayed signs to her that he ready to have some outdoor time alone. She said he would occasionally go outside, within their gated apartment complex, only to return moments later to tell his mom he was OK.
One of those days, two neighbors say they say Tomahawk playing outside, unattended for about 15 to 20 minutes. They talked to him and asked him to go home, but say he told them he wasn’t ready to stop playing yet. They eventually went back in their apartment and called child protective services.
“I just thought she would get a warning, and then she wouldn’t let him be out alone again,” Sonja Horrell said.
Horrell and her daughter, Brandi, also live at the apartment complex. They said they only called CPS because they were worried about Tomahawk being left unattended and meant the family no harm.
“I’m not mad she has to do things now to teach her, because what if someone did take him?” Brandi Horrell said.
Read more: Sacramento Mother Faces Child Endangerment Charges for Allowing 4-Year-Old Son to Play Outside Alone