Outrage as mom who forgot her 4 month old son in a grocery store is charged

Outrage as mom who forgot her 4 month
old son in a grocery store is charged
Cherish Peterson, a mother of four young kids, said she was
horrified to realize she drove off from a grocery store in
Arizona last week without her two-month-old son and since
then, there's been a roller coaster reaction on social
media.
The incident happened in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, on
a day when the high temperature was 104 degrees.
Peterson returned to the grocery store to look for her baby
after about 40 minutes. She didn't notice he was missing
until she had driven all the way home.
"As I was pulling into the garage, my 3-year-old-
goes, 'Where is baby Huxton?' I turned around and
looked and realized he was gone," Peterson said.
She said she was distracted by two of her other kids and
forgot her son, who was still in the cart.
"Normally, I put my cart away, but I didn't need to
because I parked at the front of the store, and I
never park there. And I drove away," Peterson
said.
An off-duty police officer found the infant and took him
inside a nearby Supercuts.
Huxton was checked out at a hospital before being
returned to his parents.
"I'm a good mom who made a horrible mistake,"
she said. Police believed it was an accident, but the
internet was not as forgiving.
People questioned the 28-year-old mom's parenting skills
and wondered if alcohol or drugs were involved. There were
also comparisons to the treatment of Shanesha Taylor, an
unemployed Phoenix mother who in May was sentenced to
18 years probation for leaving her two sons inside her SUV
during a job interview.
"People went crazy thinking that I should have my
child taken out of my home and they should have
never given me my baby back and I should be in
prison right now," Peterson said. "Nothing they can
say can make me feel worse than I did in that
moment I turned around and saw my car seat
missing."
The next day, police said they would recommend a
misdemeanor charge of child endangerment against
Peterson, which sparked another backlash.
The hashtag #IStandWithCherish trended on US Twitter
and more than 16,000 people joined a Facebook group to
support her.
"There is nothing I love more in this world than
being a mom, and there is no one in this world that
can love my kids more than me," Peterson said.
"But you know what? I count my blessings because
my baby was OK."
Peterson's husband said they are grateful to the off-duty
police officer and first responders who took good care of
their son, but he also believes public pressure forced the
police department's hand.
The prosecutor will now decide whether to move forward
with the misdemeanor charge against Peterson.
Peterson's husband Nathan Peterson rushed to his wife's
defense.
''I married the best, in terms of the mother and wife
Cherish is to me and our children,' he said.
'A mistake was made, and we learned, but we're not
perfect. We're not perfect. But we love our family and we
love our children and we are grateful that everything is
okay.'
'It's hard when you can't shield your beloved wife and
family from hateful and judgmental things,' he added.
Cherish has since been charged with a misdemeanor charge
of child endangerment to the town prosecutor by Gilbert
Police Dept.
Source: CBS