PARKED: IN SCOTT CITY, POLICE ACTION INVESTIGATED

SCOTT CITY -- An investigation began Tuesday into a woman's claim that two Scott City police officers abandoned her son in a parking lot after taking the boy's grandfather to jail.

The officers deny the charge, saying the boy was not left alone. They said the grandfather had handed over responsibility of the boy to two friends who witnessed the arrest and later took the boy to a friend's house.

The mother, Jeannie Moore of Cape Girardeau, said her 6-year-old son Christopher was being driven home on May 24 by his grandfather when police stopped the truck the two were in.

Moore claims the two officers left the boy alone in the truck while they handcuffed his grandfather and took him to jail for refusing a breathalyzer test and driving while his license was revoked. The grandfather, Jerry Moore, 49, of Scott City, was later charged with driving while his license was revoked, police said.

Jeannie Moore, who filed a complaint against the Scott City Police Department June 4, claims her son was left alone for possibly as long as an hour.

"Anybody could have come up and taken Chris," she said. "I would have never known where he was."

Moore said she was at work at the time of the arrest and had asked her father to pick her son up from school in Cape Girardeau and take him back to Scott City.

The Moores claim responsibility for Christopher was never given to the two friends of Moore.

But the officers, Bobby Wooten and Lloyd Young, said Jerry Moore asked the two men to take his grandson home.

"I heard Mr. Moore ask the men to take the keys to his truck and take the boy home," Wooten said. "They said yes and pulled the keys out of his pockets. Then I told them to be sure and take the boy home."

The two men took the boy to Jerry Moore's house in Scott City but found no one home, Young said. The boy then asked to go to a friend's house in Scott City.

The mother of the friend, Stacy Camp, said she called Jeannie Moore at 1 p.m. on the day of the arrest shortly after Christopher was brought to her house to tell Moore that Christopher was at her house.

Police said the arrest took place at about 12:10 p.m.

Young, who is the husband of Scott City Mayor Shirley Young, and Wooten are volunteer officers with the police department.

Young said there is no way the boy had been left alone. He said within 20 minutes after the arrest the two men who delivered the boy to the Camp's home had come to the police station to tell police where the boy was.

"If they didn't take charge of the boy they did a pretty good job of taking care of him," Young said.

But Jerry Moore said police ignored at least three requests to let him find someone to take care of his grandson.

"They just told me the situation was being taken care of," Moore said. "They didn't let me call someone either."

Young said normal procedure in a situation like Moore's is to take the child back to the police station and notify juvenile authorities. But he said it was clear that the two witnesses were going to see that the boy got home, and he thought the experience would be less traumatic for the boy if he was taken home instead of to the police station.

"Officer Wooten even asked them if they had any problem with taking the boy home and they said no," Young said.

The Moores, the two witnesses and the two officers testified Monday at a police board hearing. David E. "Gene" Thompson, a member of the board, said an investigation into the complaint was turned over to Scott City Police Chief David Beck.

The chief said he would present the results of the investigation to the police board at its next meeting July 8.

Jeannie Moore contends the officers were wrong by not taking her son to the police station with his grandfather. She said she likely will pursue further action against the department if no disciplinary action is taken against the two officers.

"If I would have left my kid in a parking lot by himself he would have been taken away from me," she said. "City cops can do it and nothing's going to happen to them."