Mom Arrested After Using Teen as Human Bungee Cord
Categories: Teens & tweens, In The News, Weird But True
Jackie Denise Knott was arrested after police spotted her daughter riding on top of her moving minivan. Credit: Albertville Police Dept.
According to the Web site AL.com, Albertville Police stopped Jackie Denise Knott, 37 of Boaz, after they received a call about a minivan traveling on U.S. 431 with a large cardboard box on top of it -- and a child inside that box.
When officers stopped the woman, she gave them a simple explanation, said Sgt. Jamie Smith.
"The box was too big to go inside the van, and she would be able to hold it down if she was inside the box," Smith told AL.
When officers suggested that perhaps the arrangement wasn't safe, Knott allegedly replied that she had tethered the box to the van with a clothes hanger, according to AL. She is currently being held in the city jail, and her daughter, Haley Henderson, has been turned over to relatives.
Haley, 13, told WAAY 31 that her mom is a great parent and the two were headed for an event at a local church."I was going to a 30-hour famine at Life Point Church in Albertville" Haley said. "We were not going to eat for thirty hours, and raise money for the hungry, and we were going to sleep outside in boxes. We already had two big boxes in the car and there was no room for the other one."
Haley told the station that it was her idea to sit in the box. "My mom told me 'No.' It was a bad idea and I did it anyways," she said.
Knott added her own mea cupla, and told WAAY 31 that "it was just a bad decision."
Haley told WAAY 31 that her mom doesn't deserve to be called a bad parent. "She's an awesome mom," she said. "I mean, everyone likes her and you ask anyone in our neighborhood. She's a good mom and she would never do anything wrong."
We know that parents make mistakes, but giving in when your teenager asks for permission to be a human bungee cord stretches the limits of good judgment to the breaking point. We hope that next time, Knott will think -- wait for it -- out of the box.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
mare 10-09-2009 @ 2:14PM
FIRST OF ALL THE PARENT IS IN CHARGE NOT THE LITTLE GIRL. MOM SHOULD HAD BEEN STRONGER, AND MADE IT VERY CLEAR TO DAUGHTER, THE DANGER OF DOING SOMETHING LIKE THIS IS FUN TO THE KID, BECAUSE KIDS DONT REALLY UNDERSTAND SAFETY IS IMPORTEN,DID MOTHER NOT KNOW BEFORE HAND BOX WOULD NOT FIT IN CAR, WHY NOT JUST GET SOME ROPE AND TIE IT DOWN, DONT USE YOU KID LIKE THAT, SHE MAY BE A GOOD PARENT, BUT NOT THIS TIME.
Reply
happycheese 10-09-2009 @ 5:10PM
Just a suggestion, did you know that boxes can be folded? Yea I KNOW RIGHT?! Never knew... its simple, just take the box, pop out all the ends, and BAM! its flat as a board. You could probably have a stack of a hundred in a minivan! NO WAY!
Joe 10-09-2009 @ 6:24PM
The things that people do in the name of God are totally beyond my comprehension at times.........
Annee 10-09-2009 @ 7:41PM
We could eliminate most laws in this country by passing ONE - It is against the law to be STUPID. That would cover most situations including this one.
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baydrive 10-09-2009 @ 2:34PM
I guess she didn't think of breaking down the box and reassembling it at her destination. That would require... thinking outside the box.
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Kya 10-09-2009 @ 3:58PM
Exactly. That is what I was thinking as I read the story. Who hasn't moved before, and had to lug a bunch of collapsed boxes in their car for it?
It's easy enough to reassemble them. Ah well,maybe they had already started their famine ritual and weren't thinking clearly.
davecindyj 10-09-2009 @ 7:05PM
BAYDRIVE - That is hysterical: Think outside the box. How about this one: Stupid is as Stupid does. LOL
heidi 10-09-2009 @ 2:42PM
Another stupid ignorant parent they should put her in jail and never let her out.
Reply
SARAH BROWN 10-09-2009 @ 5:07PM
apparently heidi you have no children..all parents at one time or another make bad parenting decisions..you should have your hands super glued behind your back, so that you can't type anymore stupid comments...i'm sure you are also one of those parents that think time out is the only suitable punishment...
Janet 10-09-2009 @ 8:01PM
I remember a similar case in Detroit.....only that didn't end as well....the little girl ended up flying off the car on the freeway and dieing.
gchocolate1 10-09-2009 @ 2:49PM
WTF? whata dumbass
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David 10-09-2009 @ 2:49PM
what a stupid stupid woman........
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Mike 10-09-2009 @ 2:49PM
Looks like Foxworthy has another...
"You might be a Redneck" line.
If you've ever strapped your child to the roof of your minivan in a cardboard box! You might be a redneck...
=)
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jaybug 10-09-2009 @ 3:10PM
H E R E' S Y O U R S I G N.........
Heidi Ladowitz 10-09-2009 @ 3:17PM
That is hysterical...I like your response..
DHS1006 10-09-2009 @ 3:25PM
Mike and Jaybug
Good one, I forgot all about the Foxworthy jokes...that describes this situation perfectly!!!! :-)
Itsallmetime 10-09-2009 @ 5:52PM
Oh that sounds like a good one!!
bill 10-09-2009 @ 2:50PM
who has the keys to the car , mom or kid, id told her get in will come back for the box that doesnt fit in the van...
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Michael 10-09-2009 @ 2:54PM
all I can say is..."wow..are people really this dumb?"
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jeff 10-09-2009 @ 4:08PM
oh yes michael, people are most certainly this dumb.....sometimes i'm actually afraid to leave my house because of it. this is just one of a myriad of examples of this nations stupidity. i mostly notice it in criminal cases in court. a huge % of judges and juries are so unbelievably naive and ignorant it blows my mind......whether it's a judge giving some criminal a sentence that should be illegal for the crime they committed , or a jury finding a criminal not guilty when it's so obvious they are guilty as sin, it's just sickening. defense lawyers are laughing their asses off at these people after the trials. i think we should have professional juries for that very reason.....god this nation is so. dumb