Authorities drop charges against mom who left daughter alone in car

Charges were dropped Thursday against a suburban Chicago woman who briefly left her 2-year-old daughter alone in the car to take her two older daughters to pour coins into a Salvation Army kettle.

During a brief hearing in Cook County Circuit Court, Assistant State's Attorney Peggy Gill-Curtin told Judge James Ryan that the office was dropping misdemeanor child endangerment and obstructing a peace officer charges against Treffly Coyne.

The decision was reached because "we were unable to meet our burden of proof," Cook County state's attorney spokesman John Gorman said.

More Coverage Video Charges Dropped in Illinois Child-in-car Case

Coyne, 36, of Tinley Park, was arrested Dec. 8 after a Crestwood Police Department community service officer spotted her sleeping daughter alone in Coyne's vehicle. Coyne was scheduled to stand trial Thursday.

"I feel good and I feel a little bit more empowered now," said Coyne who faced a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a fine of $2,500 had she been convicted. "And I feel relief."

Her husband was also relieved -- and angry.

"We shouldn't have had to fight this long and this hard when my wife never did anything wrong," said Timothy Janecyk. The way the case ended, he said, "only shows they tore my family apart for no reason."

Coyne, who was arrested in a loading zone near the entrance of a Wal-Mart store, contended 2-year-old Phoebe, who was sleeping, was safe inside the car after she locked it, activated the alarm system and turned on the emergency flashers.

She said she was never more than 30 feet from the vehicle, did not step inside the store and was gone for only minutes. And her attorney said because the car was always in sight, Coyne's daughter never was unattended.

Crestwood Police Chief Timothy Sulikowski said he strongly disagreed with the prosecutors' decision.

"We stand by the actions of our officers that night and they were looking out for the best interests of the child," he said.

Sulikowski said that while police were obligated to report the case to the state's child welfare agency, Coyne would not have been arrested had she cooperated and not refused to give them basic information, including the child's name.

"By not providing us with that information and the information of her child, at that point we don't know that that child is hers. We don't know if that child has been listed as a kidnapped child or a missing child," he said. "Absolutely, she forced this."

Coyne has acknowledged she did not tell officers her child's name after she called her husband on her cell phone and he told her not to say anything until he arrived. She said she was afraid and only wanted to wait for her husband, but police arrested her before he did.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services also investigated the incident and determined there was no credible evidence of abuse or neglect.

Coyne's case garnered international media attention. Scores of bloggers also weighed in online message boards, some of them blasting the police for overstepping their authority and others taking her to task for leaving her child, however briefly.

Her husband said she had to endure allegations that she endangered her child's life and the stigma that she was an unfit mother.

Coyne said the case has her considering doing some work on behalf of others who are victimized like she said she was.

But others say the victims are children, some of whom are injured or killed after being left alone in vehicles. Just this week in Houston, a 2-year-old boy left in a car by his mother was killed after he climbed out of the car and ran into a busy street.

Sulikowski said such incidents and statistics bear out the community service officer's concerns that Coyne had put her daughter at risk.

"The message needs to get out to people that these things can happen," he said.