Pot-Smoking Teen Mom Drives Away With 5-Week-Old Son on the Roof of the Car: Accident or Crime?

by SodaHead Living Posted 2012/06/04 19:00:00

Related Topics: Teen, Mom, Son, Baby, Car, Roof, Catalina Clouser, Boyfriend, smoking, jail, Phoenix, Assault, Crime, State

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740 votes
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	Accident	102 votes	14%
	Crime	638 votes	86%

A pot-smoking teen mom accidentally drives off with her 5-month-old son strapped in his car seat on the roof of the vehicle. Even worse: The baby falls off the car in the middle of an intersection (he was still strapped in and unharmed). Nevertheless, sounds like a controversy to us!

Catalina Clouser, 19, was arrested on Saturday and booked into jail on child abuse and aggravated assault charges, Phoenix police spokesman James Holmes told Reuters. The infant is currently in the custody of state Child Protective Services, Reuters reports.

So what went wrong? "It appears the suspect put the baby on the roof of the car and drove off, forgetting he was still on the roof," Holmes said in a written statement.

And how could a new mom possibly leave her baby on the roof of a moving car? Police said Clouser and her boyfriend had been smoking marijuana in a park and left with the baby to buy beer late on Friday night. Officers stopped the car and the boyfriend was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence, Reuters reports.

But here's where it gets really bad. Clouser was so upset about the arrest that she drove to a friend's home and "admittedly smoked one or two additional bowls of marijuana," Holmes said. She left at about midnight with the infant asleep in his car seat, placing the child on top of the car, he said, and didn't realize that the baby was missing until she got home.

What do you think? Did Clouser make a mistake? Or should smoking pot when you're on mommy duty (and forgetting your baby on top of a moving car) be considered child abuse or even assault?

+40

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Ryan Clarke 2012/06/04 20:09:38

Crime

+17
LOWLIFE!!! She could have killed her baby because she was stoned on pot. I have no problem with people smoking pot. I think people should be allowed to do it in the privacy of their homes. But when you have a baby in your custody and possession, YOU DON'T DO DRUGS AND ENDANGER YOUR CHILD!!!

Anyone who voted accident needs to have their head examined.
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Tenness... to ThinkAb... 2012/06/05 17:49:43

+1
LOL !

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..::localeye::.. 2012/06/05 17:15:10

Crime

+2
I have no issues with smoking pot but come on...use your brain. If you are taking care of your child or any child in general. Save it for later. When they are asleep and in the safety of their own beds.

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Melda V... to ..::loc... 2012/06/05 18:01:07

or in the safety, warmth, and caress of the grandparent's bossom!...really!like i said before..this woman has proved her incompetence at taking care of her own child and herself as well...everyone knows pot n cigarrettes make you look old n wrinkly.

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..::loc... to Melda V... 2012/06/05 20:00:04

"everyone knows pot n cigarrettes make you look old n wrinkly." haha...that's funny.

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Melda V... to ..::loc... 2012/07/11 05:27:34

LOL! its true u see the bags forming under her eyes already? im thirty and look younger than that...

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..::loc... to Melda V... 2012/07/18 20:00:57

I agree cigarettes make you look wrinkly...not pot. My wife is almost 36 and she looks no older then 25....and smokes a lot of weed.

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Melda V... to ..::loc... 2012/07/29 05:15:06

still i dont like smoking or pot...i must have my best concentration at work and i have to think fast throughout my work day....only in high school i tried it. and even then i didnt like it...i like being alert...and no i dont do coke..lol! i just dont like the groggy slow feeling..and actions it may cause like the young lady did with the car seat..lol!

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alex 2012/06/05 17:11:25 (edited)

Accident

Oops, this is a crime, not an accident haha. Anyway, She didn't leave him on the roof cause she was stoned, she did it because she's a careless good for nothing. If I were stoned, and only off one joint, there's no snowballs chance in HELL I would forget I had a baby. On the roof of my car nonetheless!! Cannabis didn't cause this, the lack of responsibility the girl has did. Cannabis doesn't impair you it alters your state of mind. I believe if she were sober she would have done the same thing.

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DeCaf 2012/06/05 17:08:47

Crime

what else need be said? Smoking pot and driving..... and being negligent. It could have been negligent homicide had the baby landed differently. What a waste of humanity this girl is..... and so is her boyfriend..... he is a POS as far as I'm concerned.

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DreamSp... to DeCaf 2012/06/05 19:34:16

Especially when driving...I have known people to smoke pot and then drive. They go so slow, sometimes even forgetting where they were going or where they were. Pot can make you forget things. She was negligent to be smoking pot while she was caring for child and to drink alcohol on top of that was just adding fuel to the fire. It was an accident waiting to happen but a crime in the making.

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bettyboop 2012/06/05 17:07:33

Crime

Poor baby was probably also high. So high in fact that when she/he hit the road their body was limp and so no broken bones. Probably the baby thought it was on a bad trip, of course we will never know. I imagine 20 years down the line, the kid will end up being a psycho.

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Melda V... to bettyboop 2012/07/29 05:21:59

+1
not really. as most of his brain cells lost to the pot smoke will be made again.after a certain age the brain stops reproducing lost cells. he should be ok given proper education and placement...lets just hope the best for the poor innocent baby. .....

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bettyboop to Melda V... 2012/07/30 10:38:18

Amen Melda.

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Jen S. 2012/06/05 17:01:51

Crime

Take the child away NOW before he becomes attached to her and affected by her serious lack of parenting skills.

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cents-less 2012/06/05 16:52:21

Crime

Yes it was probably a mistake, yes it was probably an accident, I doubt she meant it or wanted to harm her kid but it was still child endangerment, using an illegal substance and some more laws broken so it was a crime.

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Peacock 2012/06/05 16:52:14

Crime

A CRIME..be it pot, booze, or another drug. The baby wasn't safe..HOW do you"forget" your baby...on a car roof? The MIRACLE of it all, is that this baby wasn't killed!

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cb 2012/06/05 16:33:40

Crime

+1
There is no defense for this at all. You forget a cup of coffee not your own child!

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Sarah TH Marshall Switcher 2012/06/05 16:17:41

Crime

+3
Although I'm going to go out on a limb and say she didn't purposefully leave the kid up there, so it's both an accident and a crime.

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poprocksandcoke15 2012/06/05 16:11:40

Crime

Maybe she shouldn't have been high! She endagered that poor kid's life!

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janet 2012/06/05 15:59:44

Crime

Poor Baby : (

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Kat 'CARROT' 2012/06/05 15:54:50

Crime

+1
why would u put a kid on the roof they could have fall off even if the car isn't moving

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Jacob 2012/06/05 15:46:43

Accident

She's not the greatest mother but hell we all start somewere. Its just like some people forget their kids at a park or at Chucky Cheese's. Ya she is an idiot and if anything she should get charged with use of illegal substance.

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mmmholl... to Jacob 2012/06/05 17:05:15

If you are high or drunk your accident becomes a crime.

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Jacob to mmmholl... 2012/06/05 17:16:07

Yes but its messed up that it does

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Ian to mmmholl... 2012/06/09 14:15:11
mmmholl... to Ian 2012/06/16 02:54:44

Why are you saying this to me?
My comment was"If you are high or drunk your accident becomes a crime."

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Ian to mmmholl... 2012/06/17 17:00:54

Yes i know, i was making the point that you made.
With you all the way!

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mmmholl... to Ian 2012/06/23 19:09:44

:)

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Jen S. to Jacob 2012/06/05 17:09:31

+1
A decent parent NEVER forgets their child. Taking care of one's child is the top priority. You forget the gallon of milk you left on the roof while loading the groceries into the car and buckling your child into their seat... you don't forget the child!

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Jacob to Jen S. 2012/06/05 17:15:26
faustbc 2012/06/05 15:43:15
KilrQueen 2012/06/05 15:32:17

Crime

+1
You don't accidentally forget your child on the roof of a car....not if you are a true mother. Sounds to me like she's not really ready to be a mother.

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Ian to KilrQueen 2012/06/24 07:34:24
KilrQueen to Ian 2012/06/24 22:53:21

Exactly...they do not mix well.

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EmiliaZsuzsannaRak 2012/06/05 15:32:02

Crime

+1
This is a question because? Neglect is one of the severest forms of abuse. If this isn't neglect, I don't know what is.

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VictorianBabe 2012/06/05 15:31:28

Accident

She's just isn't a good mother. Obviously not mature enough to be a parent. Yes it was dumb. But it wasn't intentional. Don't do drugs, kids. Don't do it.

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mmmholl... to Victori... 2012/06/05 17:05:43

+1
If you are high or drunk it is crime , not an accident.

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jacktown kid 2012/06/05 15:27:42

Crime

And very stupid and ignorant

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ZirconiumWit 2012/06/05 15:27:17

Crime

I fail to see how this is controversial. If the woman had been sober, it still would have been a crime for her to endanger her child's life like this. The police made the right decision to arrest this negligent mother in what seems to me to be a painfully open-shut case of criminal negligence.

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wgossett99 2012/06/05 15:22:47

Crime

+1
This is child endangement - plain and simple. I don't have a problem with people smoking pot but I do expect them to not harm others while under the influence.

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