Criminal Justice

Police Chief Says Sorry re $2,500 Ticket Given to Woman After Son, 3, Drops Pants in Front Yard

  •  
  •  
  •  
  • Print

Dillan Warden is being potty-trained, so when he got the urge to go on Sunday, a teenage family member encouraged him to drop his pants and try to pee in the family’s front yard.

But that resulted in a $2,500 ticket for public urination from Piedmont, Okla., police, to his mother, Ashley Warden, 21, after an officer sitting in a cruiser nearby saw the incident, the Oklahoman reported.

The complaint was later amended by the officer to contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Ashley Warden complained to the police department, and Chief Alex Oblein said Tuesday that the incident could have been handled better, although he noted that the officer had been sent there in response to complaints about vandalism and out-of-control behavior by young people in the vicinity.

“It would have been a good opportunity for the officer to have a teaching moment with the parents,” Oblein he told the newspaper, adding that he personally thought the complaint against Warden should be dismissed. “It’s certainly a teaching moment for us. We are going to be talking about it quite a lot.”

Warden said she appreciated the chief’s support but would feel better if she was certain she wouldn’t have to pay the $2,500.

It was up to the district attorney’s office will decide whether to prosecute the ticket, the newspaper noted.

But by later the same day the case was closed: Oblein visited the Warden family personally to apologize and said the complaint was being dropped, Ashley Warden told ABC News on Wednesday.

“We told him we appreciated him coming and for all his help,” she said. “He didn’t have to come by the house. That was nice of him to do that.”

Give us feedback, share a story tip or update, or report an error.