Background: Patriot Box Sports Grill on Highway 51 in Millington, Tennessee, and the area around it (Google Maps). Inset: Angel C. Harris (Shelby County Sheriff's Office).
A boy in Tennessee said he was in a car arguing with his mother when she pulled over, took his phone, and left him stranded on the side of a highway.
Angel Harris, 31, has been charged with child neglect or endangerment and interference with emergency calls, both misdemeanors, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime. She was booked in the Shelby County Jail before being released on her own recognizance.
On Sunday evening, Harris and her 15-year-old son were driving south on Highway 51 in Millington, Tennessee. The city is about 15 miles north of Memphis.
They began to argue "about the individuals" the teenager was associating with, the boy said, according to an affidavit of complaint reviewed by Law&Crime. He added that "his mother pulled over, he exited the vehicle, and his mother drove away southbound, leaving him on the roadside on US Highway 51."
However, before she left, Harris apparently took his phone from him "as he attempted to communicate with 911 dispatch." It was about 7:45 p.m.
The teenager "stated he had no family, friends, or other person in Millington he could contact to pick him up." Instead, he reportedly had to cross the major highway "without a crosswalk during nighttime conditions and medium traffic" to seek out help.
The boy entered Patriot Box Sports Grill and asked a stranger to use her phone to call 911. Officers with the Millington Police Department responded to the scene.
The boy told officers that "he was not physically injured but was emotionally distressed from being left along the highway." He said he normally stays with his grandmother.
Investigators checked whether any missing-person reports were filed for the child, and they could not find any. They managed to contact the boy's grandmother, who said she would pick him up.
When officers spoke with Harris, she reportedly stated that "police wasn't going to do anything anyway" and "admitted to leaving her son" on the highway "and not returning or calling anyone to check on his well being."
The defendant was arrested and charged, and she is due in court on Sept. 17.