A Gwinnett County woman has been arrested after a video showing a child in the trunk of a moving car led to widespread outrage and tipped off the authorities. The video, which quickly went viral on social media, depicted a 12-year-old boy in the trunk of a Dodge Challenger, with a baby bassinet next to him.
According to the Gwinnett County Police Department, a woman contacted them on Feb. 25 regarding a video she had seen on social media. Using the Flock Safety System, a detective located the vehicle in question on Pleasant Hill Road and Shackleford Road in unincorporated Duluth the following day. The video showed the child inside the trunk of a vehicle, which had an out-of-state license plate, as FOX 5 Atlanta reported.
Identifying the car's owner, police officials met with 36-year-old Diane Denise Shaffer at her home in Duluth on Feb. 27. Shaffer explained that the child, her son, was holding down the recently purchased bassinet to prevent it from moving while they drove home. She also claimed that the child's feet were in the backseat of the car, with only his upper body in the trunk.
"The explanation we had was the item could not fit in the backseat of her car, it could only fit in the trunk and she had used her son to hold the object down," Sgt. Michele Pihera told WSB-TV. Despite the explanation, Shaffer was charged with reckless conduct and a seat belt violation, and booked into the Gwinnett County Jail.
Following her arrest, Shaffer's son was temporarily placed in the custody of a family member until she was released on bond yesterday morning. Though Shaffer declined to be interviewed over the phone with Channel 2's Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson, she did concede through the course of the investigation that she now understands the importance of properly restraining all persons under 18 in a vehicle. The incident serves as a stark reminder to parents to prioritize their child's safety in any situation, police say.
