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Police arrest mom, say son, 7, went to park alone
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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman who let her 7-year-old son walk alone to a park has been charged with felony child neglect.Thirty-four-year old Nicole Gainey’s son was en route Saturday to a park about a half-mile from his home when he stopped and sat at a nearby pool, according to an arrest affidavit. Lifeguards said they had seen the boy five previous times and one approached him to ask where his mother was.Apparently spooked by the questioning, the boy fled, running across a six-lane road toward the park, where an officer found him and asked if he was allowed out alone often.“Yes. She gives me the phone and tells me to go,” the child told the officer, according to the report.Police then arrived at Gainey’s home, in Port St. Lucie, and she was arrested.