'If that was me, I could have been charged with child abuse'

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado - May 19, 2008 - A Colorado Highway Patrol officer who arrested a woman on a dog-law violation, leaving her 7-month-old daughter in the custody of a 15-year-old girl alongside a dark Colorado road shortly before midnight, has been dealt with, although officials won't describe their actions.

"If that was me, I could have been charged with child abuse," Keio Suapaia told the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, which carried the report about the incident.

It happened when the woman was stopped for speeding, and because of a 10-year-old warrant for a dog law violation and the fact she failed to carry her driver's license with her, she was taken into custody.

With her in the car in the traffic stop shortly before midnight April 28 on U.S. Highway 50 near Whitewater, Colo., were her 7-month-old baby girl and her 15-year-old niece. The officer had called her sister to come to the area to fetch the two children.

"I thought we'd be there until another cop car or my sister got there," Suapaia told the newspaper. She recalled that the first thing she asked Trooper Jeffrey Verbas was, "Do you think it's OK to leave them there?"

But before her sister arrived, the trooper took off to haul Suapaia to jail, leaving a 25-minute gap during which the children were left alone in the vehicle, the report said.

Capt. Ed Clark of the Colorado State Patrol said the agency became aware of the situation when the family called, and "action" has been taken regarding the trooper, but he declined to elaborate since personnel sanctions are not part of the public record.

Ed. Note: This Cop should be charged with child abuse, found guilty, and thrown into prison with the general population.  He wouldn’t last a month.