Official: Mom leaves mentally disabled daughter at bar, refuses to retrieve her
By Jack Maddox, CNN
(CNN) - An Illinois woman who left her mentally disabled daughter outside a Tennessee bar cannot be charged with a crime, police said Tuesday.
Police in Caryville, Tennessee, said the daughter is 19 and not assigned to a legal guardian.
"As terrible as it is, unfortunately there is nothing we can do," Assistant Police Chief Stephanie Smith said. "There is no doubt we need a law for mental health rights, but pending this investigation, we just don't know what else to do."
According to police, Eva Cameron stopped at the Big Orange Bar in Caryville on June 28 when her daughter, Lynn, needed to use the restroom.
The mother left Lynn by the side of the road and returned to her home in Algonquin, Illinois, according to Smith.
"(Lynn) didn't know her age, she didn't know her address, she didn't know her phone number and she didn't even know her name," Smith said.
Eva Cameron told the Northwest Herald newspaper in Illinois that she brought Lynn to Caryville because of its concentration of Baptists and because Tennessee has the "No. 1 health care system in the United States of America."
About In America
What defines you? Maybe it’s the shade of your skin, the place you grew up, the accent in your words, the make up of your family, the gender you were born with, the intimate relationships you chose to have or your generation? As the American identity changes we will be there to report it. In America is a venue for creative and timely sharing of news that explores who we are. Reach us at inamerica@cnn.com.
Black in America
iReport
Every now and then the press reports about a parent who has "snapped" and done something horrible to a child with a disability of some kind or another. It is interesting to read comments, because there are always many who don't approve of what has been done, but who understand how it could happen. I mean, a disabled child is tough to deal with and look after, so the parent needs compassion...blah, blah, blah.
There is no excuse.
To say that there is some reasoning behind it, honestly, belittles the child and their value. I mean, who would have compassion for a parent who dropped their typical child off in a bar out of state?!
My question is who is coming in to make sure that the other child is begin looked after?!