WATCH: A video showing a mother locked up in jail with her three-year-old child is sparking hard questions. The girl spent more than half an hour locked up with her mother. Ed Gallek reports.
TORONTO – Questions have been raised after police allowed a three-year-old girl to share a jail cell for more than thirty minutes with her mother who was caught shoplifting.
Police in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville, Ohio arrested Latonya Bass on October 14 for shoplifting at a local Walmart. According to security video, Bass was attempting to leave the store with her three-year-old daughter sitting on top of approximately five-hundred dollars worth of merchandise.
Bass was immediately brought to the Strongsville police station with her child in tow.
Video released from inside the station clearly shows Bass’ unidentified daughter joining her in a holding cell for a half hour.
According to WOIO’s Ed Gallek, police have defended the decision by claiming they allowed Bass to call the child’s father to pick her up. But while the girl waited, it was best to keep her with her mother instead of strangers.
WOIO also reports that Bass has other pending cases in Medina County where police there say one report indicates Bass was caught shoplifting with a child.
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