Georgia Dad Needs A Job, Not Handcuffs

Chris Louis needs a job, not handcuffs.

There’s something about the Louis case in Augusta, Georgia, that calls for - dare I say it - leniency.

Photo: Augusta Police Department

If news reports are accurate, that is. 

Here’s what I gleaned from reading a slew of accounts: Louis is a 24-year-old father of three. His oldest child is 10, meaning he was a dad at 14. He also has a six-year-old and one-year-old.

On the 22nd of March Louis walked with his kids to a McDonald’s near his apartment because he doesn’t have a car. He had a job interview nearby and at 4:30 he briefly left the children in the McDonald’s “Playplace” with the 10-year-old in charge of the younger siblings.

Louis dashed back into the restaurant several times to check on the children and returned for good at 6:18. The police were waiting for him. He was arrested and taken into custody. 

Louis was charged with “deprivation of a minor,” a misdemeanor in Georgia, punishable by no more than a $1,000 fine and or up to one year in jail.

Remember, this is an unemployed father trying to take care of his kids. The last thing he needs is any sort of fine or incarceration.

If my calculations are correct, the Louis kids had been in McDonald’s for one hour and 45 minutes, part of that time without their dad.

Was this a smart move on Louis’ part? Probably not. Not in this day and age. But there was a time in the not too distant past when 10-year-olds were considered quite capable of caring for younger siblings. 

They still are capable, but we infantilize our children and criminalize parents who allow them to take on responsibilities. Parents routinely get arrested for allowing their children to walk home from school or play alone in public.

We regularly read about atrocious parents who leave kids in hot cars, who abandon kids for hours while they party or do drugs and parents who physically abuse their offspring.

This wasn’t that kind of endangerment of a child.

Louis was apparently trying to take care of his kids, despite having been a child himself when he became a father. Kudos for him staying in their lives and for trying to find work.

This arrest looks like a massive over-reaction to someone who didn’t have a babysitter and who might have used poor judgment for a few minutes. The kids were fine.

The story of the unemployed dad went viral on social media. NFL great Antonio Brown started a Go Fund Me for Louis and last time I checked it had raised about $34,000 for the struggling family.

Chris Louis needs a car and a job. He doesn’t need fines or jail time.

Let’s hope Louis draws a judge with common sense who will commend him for staying involved with his children and let him off with a warning.