Catalina Clouser, Pot-Smoking Mother, Drives Off With Baby On Roof

[onehandle]

Source: Reuters

A marijuana-smoking woman was arrested on Saturday in Phoenix after she accidentally drove away with her five-week-old son in a child safety seat on the roof of her vehicle, police said.

The baby fell off the car in the middle of an intersection and was found unharmed and strapped into the seat, said Phoenix police spokesman James Holmes.

The mother Catalina Clouser, 19, was booked into jail on child abuse and aggravated assault charges, he said. The infant was taken to a local hospital as a precaution and is in the custody of state Child Protective Services.

"It appears the suspect put the baby on the roof of the car and drove off, forgetting he was still on the roof," Holmes said in a written statement.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/03/catalina-clouser-pot-baby-roof-car_n_1565487.html

[Seedersandleechers]

1. I've done that a few times

but it was always with drinks.

[obamanut2012]

46. I have done it with drinks and my cell

Never a living thing. The cell was bad enough.

[Duer 157099]

60. You've left a baby on your roof

after having a few drinks? What?

[ManyShadesOf]

2. Raising Arizona?

good thing they bounce

[rocktivity]

5. .

rocktivity

[dadchef]

68. Oldie but Goodie

A blonde is walking down the street with her blouse open and her right breast hanging out. A policeman approaches her and says, "Ma'am, are you aware that I could cite you for indecent exposure?" She says, "Why, officer?" "Because your breast is hanging out." She looks down and says, "OH MY GOD, I left the baby on the bus again!"

[iamthebandfanman]

3. lol

Wow, totally blaming the pot, eh ?

i dunno how many 'sober' people ive witnessed drive off with stuff on their car (usually a cup tho, lol).. but its more than a few

[Voice for Peace]

9. agree, that was my first thought

[awoke_in_2003]

18. Hey, she is a pot-smoking mother...

not a bad mother

[canuckledragger]

20. that's exactly what the title is trying to lead people to believe.

because people are forgetful for no other reason than the 'devil weed'

[Scairp]

38. I know

How many sober parents have caused the death of an infant by leaving them in the car to die of the heat? I think they are just as self-absorbed, especially when I hear the excuses; I don't usually take the kid to the sitter, whatever they say about it after the fact. I don't see them any differently than this girl.

[sofa king]

39. I concur.

Blame the stupidity, or whatever you want to call it, of the inattentive parent. The weed is merely a symptom of a larger incompetence.

But, as my better half often observes, there is no entrance exam for parenting. So we have to deal with stories like these.

The really incredible part is how damned good most of you are at parenting. Congratulations to all of you, for not being as shitty a parent as this one.

[uncle ray]

55. "The weed is merely a symptom of a larger incompetence. "

please explain.

[sofa king]

57. Her mistakes go far beyond being high.

She can't blame the weed for the stupid choice to get high in the first place--that was all hers. That decision probably required a blatant disregard for her duty as a parent.

Then there is the stupid inattentiveness, the stupid decision to put the carrier on top of the car, and the stupid decision to drive off without checking the back seat. There was a chance at every point to avert potential disaster by simply being a parent for one damned second, and the only way it could have happened was by not being one at every point in time.

That goes way beyond being high, and touches on self-absorption, immaturity, lack of focus and a dozen other awful things that would preclude her from virtually any other job except, unfortunately, this most important one.

[shanti]

70. thank you!

this is another demonization of weed, imo, instead of her 19 year old ignorance. i'd lay odds that weed wasn't the only thing she was imbibing. btw, i don't know anyone who physically lifts their child's carseat UP on top of their car, with the child in it. really, who puts their child on top of their car???? purse, maybe, but a child?

[Zoeisright]

42. It's completely credible to blame the pot.

[phleshdef]

43. If she were drunk instead of high, I'm not blaming the alcohol. I'm blaming her.

If she were hopped up on pain pills, I'd still be blaming her and not the pain pills. If you are going to get intoxicated, you don't go driving at all, let alone with a baby. She is just an irresponsible parent. There are plenty of responsible users of marijuana and alcohol that know better than to be in a situation where they would make this kind of mistake.

[Scairp]

44. Oh sure

Because the pot is a living, breathing thing that forced itself on her. It has nothing to do with pot and everything to do with her failure to take parenting seriously.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

61. You've never chiefed have you?

Franked the rajj, puffed the dragon, blazed, burned, ripped, flame the m Jane?

[Scairp]

73. I guess I'm not hip to the lingo

But if you are asking have I been a smoker of pot, I surely have. I ran out about 10 years ago and only partake when I go back east for a visit and my sister corrupts me with the demon weed once again. I smoked nearly everyday, with the exception of during pregnancy and breastfeeding, for at least 25 years. I never did leave any of my kids on top of the car, or anywhere else they might be in danger of death or serious bodily harm. The pot is not to blame. No one forced her to inhale it. She is simply a terrible parent.

[may3rd]

48. she was carrying it for nine months

seems odd she would leave it on the roof to me

[KurtNYC]

63. "They say this cat Shaft is a pot smoking mother..." Chorus: Shut your mouth!

"I'm talkin' bout Shaft !"
Chorus: Well we can dig it.

[lonestarnot]

4. WTF, sounds like a broken mother/baby bond, not pot smoking.

[Lionessa]

6. Of course blame pot because of course no one straight has ever left anything on the roof of the car,

nor forgotten children in the car when they went into work, the latter of course causing the child to actually die.

Granted this was stupid and thank goodness the child was okay, but to blame pot is ludicrous.

[MADem]

10. Look, I am as supportive of legalization of MJ laws as the next person,

but who gets stoned--or drunk--when they are getting ready to drive with a FIVE WEEK OLD kid.

It's not the "particular" substance that is at issue, it's that she's indulging at all with a kid--a little newborn baby, five weeks old-- in her care and getting behind the wheel.

If she hadn't been buzzed, would she have spaced out and left the kid on top of the darn car? I'm sorry, I find BOTH of these parents to be disgraceful, and I feel for that poor infant to be born into this kind of an environment--this kind of conduct is just indefensible:

Police said Clouser and her boyfriend had been smoking marijuana in a park and left with the toddler to buy beer late on Friday night. Officers stopped the car and the boyfriend was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence while driving with the baby in the 2000 Ford Focus.

Police learned that Clouser was so upset about the arrest that she drove to a friend's home and "admittedly smoked one or two additional bowls of marijuana," Holmes said.

She left at about midnight with the baby asleep in the car seat, placing the child on top of the vehicle, he said. Clouser apparently did not realize that the baby was missing until she arrived home.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/03/catalina-clouser-pot-baby-roof-car_n_1565487.html

[Lionessa]

16. Actually we are in complete agreement, it isn't the mj that should be the article's title

it should be the woman and apparently her boyfriend, not mj. I suppose if a drunk mother did the same thing the title would be Drunk Mother..... so I guess I will stand down, but they didn't say Stoned Mother, the whole "pot-smoking mother" as though all levels of pot smoking are the same. No I won't stand down. If there was an article titled "wine-sipping mother" instead of "drunk mother," I'd bet wine drinkers would get a bit pissed at that portrayal.

[MADem]

23. As I said elsewhere in this thread, that's Huffpo for ya.

Other reports aren't couching the story in the same terms, and they are focusing on the events and not the pot to the exclusion of the fact that a kid got left on the roof and fell off as the driver was toodling on home!

[RainDog]

17. Sounds like people with problems

If someone is caring for an infant - there's no way it's a good idea to get high and drink beer until you're out of it - even tho people who are straight may also do stupid things.

It's a matter of common sense, to me, that a mom should not get intoxicated on any substance while caring for an infant.

[frylock]

19. an irresponsible teen mother?

which is how the headline should've read, but we gotta get our reefer madness on what with so many states poised to legalize the vile weed.

[MADem]

22. Well, you must take that characterization up with Huffpo.

The local coverage of the incident--with the same details-- had this title: PD: Mom drove off with baby on car roof

Huffpo always like to sensationalize shit, so that's not surprising. I linked to that local report elsewhere in this thread.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

25. +1 n/t

[Blue_Tires]

49. yeah, this is clearly a case of plain shitty, irresponsible parenting...

by unfit egg and sperm donors...

How long before she pulls a Casey Anthony and lets the baby get "kidnapped" into a shallow grave so she can just party and smoke all day??

[MADem]

54. I guess CPS has the kid. I hope it's in a stable place with affectionate and responsible adults.

Poor little thing; what a shitty start to life.

[Scairp]

50. I know

Especially if you are breastfeeding. I didn't touch anything while I was. I'm pretty confident she wasn't nursing because she had no regard for the kid's safety and well-being, let alone feeding him in the best way possible.

[goclark]

31. Mitt put the dog on the top of the car

He meant to do it.

Was he on pot?

I say no, he was stupid then and stupid now.

[24601]

78. And then he took it down and ate it - no?, Sorry that was someone else.

[treestar]

51. Wouldn't it increase the chances of it happening?

Sober people do get forgetful and get into accidents. Drugs and alcohol increase the chances of it happening.

[jberryhill]

7. Romney Campaign Considering New VP Nominee

[crazylikafox]

11. DUzy

[bayareaboy]

15. It's a great way to ...

deflect the folks who think that Mittens did something dastardly by putting his dog up on a roof. he also secured the load, instead of this marohoochi Mother.

[Moosepoop]

8. Not sure how accurate this story is.

The author refers to the baby in question first as "her five-week-old son," a bit later as "the infant," and then later in the article as "the toddler." I have yet to meet a five-week-old toddler, so I'll take the rest of the allegations with a bit of salt for now, as well.

On edit -- the story appears to be true. Here's an article that's a bit more coherent (and has pics!):

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2153891/Catalina-Clauser-arrested-DUI-driving-baby-roof-car.html

[MADem]

12. Five week old baby, per a local TV resource

http://www.kpho.com/story/18683504/pd-mom-forgot-baby-in-car-seat-on-car-roof-drove-off


I think some 'editor' at Huffpo thought "toddler" was a synoym for "baby" or "infant."

[handmade34]

13. ...

http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/257646/58/Mom-drives-off-as-baby-is-left-on-top-of-car

[BlueToTheBone]

14. I stopped a couple who was in a parking lot and had done

the same thing...put the child in the seat, added other items to the car and left the child on the roof! I was walking by and stopped them before they had backed out of the spot, but we did all laugh!

Once, in a snowstorm, I was last minute shopping, added some stuff to the car and left the groceries! Yikes Nothing like distracted living.

[calimary]

21. Doing her best romney imitation?

[Bennyboy]

24. My Mom did that to me once...

And she was high on God (we were leaving church)............

[frogmarch]

26. I did that once, but it was

a 10 lb. bag of potatoes, not any of my babies, who were all teenagers by then, lucky them.

[Quantess]

27. I can't believe how people here defend weed so much,

even to the point of excusing DUII and forgetting a baby on top of the car. Weed DOES make you more forgetful.

[Lionessa]

28. Certain amounts of weed make you forgetful. Just like certain amounts of booze make you stupid.

However all amounts do not make one forgetful. Additionally, the time frame from whence one smokes makes a difference, but to say because someone is a pot-smoker they are forgetful or have memory issues has been scientifically proven incorrect.

[WriteWrong]

32. Actually, booze makes people violent. But that's okay, because violence is not progressive.

"to say because someone is a pot-smoker they are forgetful or have memory issues has been scientifically proven incorrect."

Absolutely true. The BEST "scientific" description of what pot does is "whatever you want it to do and expect it to do." That's why so many people who use medical marijuana just don't get high. Really extraordinary amounts of killer weed will get anyone fuzzyheaded, but so will twenty shots of rum. That doesn't say anything about what two drinks does.

But seriously, we have been demonizing weed in this way for many decades. The only reason "statistics" exist connecting pot smokers with accidents is because we look for that and save the data, but don't look for other things. Accident? Look for pot. Find it? Blame the accident on pot, add it to the total of "accidents caused by pot", and never mind that the guy was drunk AND had a concussion before he had that last bowl. The entire bogus history of pot and transportation "accidents" was constructed this way.

[FlaGranny]

62. WriteWrong,

You are wrong - alcohol does not make people violent. Alcohol releases inhibitions and makes violent people violent. It does no such thing to the inherently nonviolent person.

[Quantess]

35. Okay, but I'm talking about the occasional DU perspective that it's okay to drive while stoned.

It's not okay. People can rationalize all they want but it is a DUII for a reason.

Whether or not weed impairs driving skills to the same extent as alcohol...probably not, but it does impair driving skills. Marijuana can turn people into absent minded space cadets (while they are stoned). No, that is not scientific, but I say so from my own experience. I haven't smoked any in over 15 years because I don't like it. My train of thought was always getting derailed.

[Scairp]

37. Please

I struggle to come up with a particular word sometimes, but straight, stoned, drunk off my ass, I don't forget about my kids, nor do most parents who's kid is their priority. I have never put the car seat on the roof of the car either. Possibly the hood for a moment to free my hands but never the roof. Bottom line is this girl has no business being a parent at this point in her life and I hope they remove the baby from her crappy, self-absorbed care for the forseeable future.

[Quantess]

41. We can't know what went through her addled mind, but I wonder

if maybe she thought she had already put the baby in the car, and didn't bother to double check? From my experience with marijuana, I can see that happening.

Maybe she is so much of a nitwit she would have done the same thing sober. But in any case, there aren't any good excuses, and the marijuana didn't help.

[JNelson6563]

74. There's a time and place for everything.

While many defend the use of weed I don't see a single person advocating getting high while caring for a baby.

Julie

[patrice]

29. How much worse is that than 20-something mother joking at length & in detail about

Last edited Sun Jun 3, 2012, 06:46 PM - Edit history (1)

her most recent drunk, for her husband, and in the presence of her 7-8 yr old son. True Saturday-morning-in-Cupcake-Land-restaurant story.

Just for the sake of speculation, I'd like to propose a "Leftie-Libertarianish-Liberal" criteria for "worse" = enslaving, loss of freedom.

[onlyadream]

30. Everyone worried that my husband would do this at one point

when our daughter was a baby. He's the absent minded professor type. He did forget to pick up the baby at daycare once, lol, but no drugs or booze were to blame.

[slackmaster]

33. I have a friend who was run over by his mother when he was an infant

He crawled under his mom's station wagon. One of the rear wheels ran all the way over him, damaging his liver.

He's 54 years old now, and in good health.

BTW, his mother was a registered nurse.

[wendylaroux]

36. I left cash envelope

on roof of my car,along with bank papers. i looked in rear view mirror and saw all these little green pieces of paper flowing in the breeze,behind me. I did find all the money too.Distracted,tired person syndrome.

[Walk away]

40. No one should be drinking and or doing drugs while driving.

This woman is just an idiot! Hopefully this child will end up in a home where it's new parents know when it is appropriate to relax in an altered state and when they need to be alert and responsible.

[patrice]

45. Uh, have you ever known anyone whose child was taken away from them? It's an extremely cruel

thing to assume it would be right, without any appropriate intervention measures.

wow.

[DeSwiss]

47. And no one was killed?

Cannabis' record is still perfect. If she'd been drinking alcohol there'd be at least a dozen bodies left in her wake. This story's lede is pure BS, but then it's Reuters. And Huffpo on top of that!

- A rag within another rag.....

[felix_numinous]

52. Responsible

behavior, or accidental oversight--are separate issues than what substance this woman was on. Blaming the weed is as ridiculous as blaming alcohol. We never hear "BAN THE BOOZE" every time there is a drunk driver, we hear of how irresponsible the person is. This is the same exact thing.

PEOPLE are ultimately responsible for their acts, not objects or stuff they drink or smoke. Articles like this are so insulting to our intelligence--no one is perfect and we fuck up sometimes too.

Freedom comes with a price but we have to accept that to have a good life.

Peace, felix

[Comrade_McKenzie]

53. Doesn't even deserve to be graced with a reply with "pot-smoking" in the title. nt

[MADem]

58. That was HUFFPO spin. The local reports headlined the kid on the roof, not the substance(s) used

by the parents (beer and pot by dad, pot by mom).

[Fearless]

56. Damn Romney supporters!

[truthisfreedom]

59. Hmm. So someone made the news for being an idiot, and also a pot smoker?

Sounds pretty suspicious to me.

[Joseph28]

64. Catalina Clouser, Pot-Smoking Mother, Drives Off With Baby On Roof

[IMG][/IMG]Thanks for sharing.

[Skinner]

75. Welcome to DU, Joseph28.

[classof56]

65. Well, she does kinda make a case for keeping birth control legal.

Though I must say, her pink hair is pretty eye-catching.

Hey, she's 19 and the baby's okay. Maybe it's my old bleeding heart liberal thing, but I wish them both well.

Blessings.

[BlueIris]

66. Hopefully, the child will get a better life with a new mother.

((( Baby of Pot Head Mom )))

[dmallind]

67. Amazing

Dozens of posts saying that the pot was unfairly blamed and she was just stupid and forgetful but NEVER a single suggestion on here that anybody with a measurable BAC in an accident is anything but a homicidal alcoholic who deserves the chair and could never possibly have crashed if sober.

[JonLP24]

69. Yeah, I won't make that suggestion

I don't support the chair for anything, especially something that would be better handled w/ treatment.

[less lee]

71. This song is dedicated to that mom!

[JackRiddler]

72. Take a bad story, add a Nancy Reagan headline: voila.

True, it's probably hard to find a version of this story that doesn't work a drug war editorial in the headline.

[Chemical Bill]

76. I don't believe it...

If she was high she would have driven too slow for the kid to fall.

[LeftishBrit]

77. Sounds like she's a cross between Mitt Romney and David Cameron!

Glad the kid is OK.