Mother arrested for leaving young sons home alone — watching 'Home Alone'
In an ironic twist lost on no one, police have arrested a mother who decided to go to work while leaving her two sons, ages 7 and 4, at home — watching the holiday classic Home Alone.
An anonymous caller tipped off police officers on Tuesday that two small children had been left unattended in the home on South Franklin Street in Muncie, Ind. When the officers arrived to check on the boys at 12:45 p.m., the 7-year-old peeked out the window and shouted, “It’s the police!” according to the Muncie Star Press. The incident was reminiscent of a scene in Home Alone when 8-year-old Kevin McAllister, played by Macaulay Culkin, first realizes burglars are trying to break into his house, where he’s been accidentally left behind by his family on Christmas.
The frightened boy quickly called his aunt, Amanda Cumings, for help, and she arrived at the doorstep to persuade the boys to open up. When they did, the officers — who arrived bearing gifts for the kids — realized they had been watching the classic film that echoed their current situation. Their aunt called it “a really big coincidence.”
After contacting the boys’ mother, Taylor Cumings, police discovered she had been at work since 7 a.m., meaning that the children had been unsupervised for more than five hours. Cumings arrived home to explain that her younger child had been sick that morning, and that she hadn’t able to find anyone to watch him while she went to her job at the Youth Opportunity Center, according to the Sacramento Bee. So she decided to appoint her older son as the babysitter of her younger boy. One of the officers wrote in his report, “she had done it before but almost always stays with her children or has a babysitter.”
Police arrested Cumings — outside the view of her children — and charged her with a preliminary count of neglect of a dependent, according to the Muncie Star Press. She was being held in the Delaware County jail as of Wednesday, under a $10,000 bond. The Department of Child Services intervened and decided the boys would be allowed to remain in their home under the care of their aunt.
Yahoo Lifestyle has reached out to Amanda Cumings, and will update this story with new information about the boys and their mother.
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