Social Media Defending Mother Who Left Baby in Shopping Cart
Arizona mom who is facing child endangerment charges has her share of defenders.
— -- A mother of four is at the center of a blistering social media movement dubbed hashtag #IStandWithCherish.
Cherish Peterson is under fire for leaving behind her 2-month-old son, Huxton, outside an Arizona supermarket Aug. 24. A photo snapped by a bystander shows the baby strapped into a carrier inside a shopping cart.
In an interview with station KPHO-TV in Phoenix, Peterson shares her side of the story.
“I got into my car and 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, of Gilbert, Arizona, told the affiliate.
She describes the horrific moment she realized baby Huxton was not in the car when she got home 40 minutes later.
“As I was pulling into the garage, my 3-year-old goes, ‘Where’s baby Huxton?’” she explained. “His car seat is right behind me so I turned around and realized it was gone.”
An off-duty Phoenix police officer had spotted the infant and took him inside a nearby salon. Huxton was not injured, but Peterson now faces a misdemeanor count of child endangerment.
“I thought the whole time he was in my car,” the mother, now 28, said.
The incident has sparked a social media firestorm with many quick to condemn Peterson’s actions. One Facebook user wondering whether she was “under [the] influence?” But just as fiercely, others rushing to support Peterson on Twitter and a Facebook page attracting nearly 17,000 members.
Supporters are sharing what they’re describing as their own “perfectly imperfect” parenting moments and calling for forgiveness.
“I have never met Cherish but the public punishment through social media has to be far more painful than any charges that might be brought against her. I forgive and so should we,” one user wrote on the page.
Her husband, Nathan, is also springing to her defense.
“We love our family and we love our children,” he said. “I married the best, in terms of the mother and wife Cherish is to me and our children.”
The Petersons admit they’re not perfect parents and they’ve learned this the hard way.
“I’m a good mom who made a horrible mistake,” she said, fighting back tears.
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