Prosecutors have dropped a criminal case against a North Georgia mother who was arrested last fall after her son was found walking alone in their small town, according to a stamped court filing provided by her attorney and reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Brittany Patterson made national headlines because of her controversial arrest for “reckless conduct” after a passerby called the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office to report seeing her son Soren, who was 10 at the time, walking alone.
The boy had walked less than a mile from the family’s 16-acre home into Mineral Bluff, a town of roughly 300 people. A deputy arrived and called Patterson, who said she didn’t know that her son had been walking into town.
The bodycam footage of her arrest later that October day went viral on social media, and Patterson’s story sparked outrage and spurred conversation about the government’s role in parenting.
While the charge has been dropped, District Attorney Frank Wood could resurface it, attorney David DeLugas said, because it wasn’t dismissed “with prejudice.”
“He’s not saying, ‘We should never have arrested her.’ He’s not saying she didn’t do anything wrong,” said DeLugas, who represents Patterson. “They should apologize and issue a proclamation or official exoneration. She did not commit a crime.”
Wood, who serves in the Appalachian Judicial Circuit, did not respond to calls Friday. The Fannin County Superior Court clerk was not available to confirm the filing.
After Patterson’s arrest, she was booked into jail and posted bail hours later. Since then, she had been waiting for the DA’s office to either prosecute the case, which held a maximum sentence of up to $1,000 in fines and one year in jail, or dismiss it.
The dismissal, dated Feb. 7, says the DA reviewed the case file and will not move forward with prosecution.
“Discussions with the law enforcement agency and the passage of time since the incident have revealed no new issues or developments related to this case. As such, the state will not be moving forward with the prosecution of this case at this time,” the dismissal, signed by Wood, states.
But that does not exonerate Patterson, DeLugas said. He described the wording as a “veiled threat to Brit and all parents — behave and we won’t prosecute. But misbehave by our interpretation and face criminal prosecution!”
Patterson, reached Friday afternoon, said the dismissal “really hasn’t eased my mind” about the case.
“It doesn’t exonerate me,” the mother of four said. “It doesn’t get rid of the arrest record.”
DeLugas and Patterson have urged state lawmakers to change the law to prevent cases like hers from happening again. Both the House and Senate have bills working their way through the process. HB 552 was introduced, and SB 110 was approved by the Senate Children and Families committee this week.
The Brittany Patterson Act would create parameters for law enforcement to follow when they come across an unattended child. It would also change the definition of “neglect” under Georgia law to specifically exclude scenarios in which parents are allowing their children to engage in independent activities that are suitable for their development.
Patterson’s arrest warrant said she “willingly and knowingly did endanger the bodily safety of her juvenile son” because she left home not knowing where he was and did not report him missing to law enforcement — “a gross deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would exercise in the same situation.”
But in the small town, many children walk to neighbors’ houses and spend lots of time playing outside. Her son was walking on a familiar two-lane road that day and wasn’t in any danger, she said.
“The thing that frustrates me the most,” Patterson said, “is that my children had to go through that, and nobody’s apologized.”
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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