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Ohio man facing child endangerment charges for letting son play hooky from church

Posted at 2:49 PM, Jul 02, 2014
and last updated 2014-07-02 14:49:58-04

An Ohio man is facing child-endangerment charges after his 8-year old son played hooky from church to play outside.

Police officers found Jefferey Williamson’s son Justin alone outside near a busy street, reports TV station WCPO

Justin told his father that he was going to get on a bus that picks him from a local church, instead Justin went to play outside. Justin was spotted by officers and brought to his Blanchester home.

“It’s ridiculous to me that I was arrested for this,” he told the station. “I told the cop, ‘He goes out in the neighborhood and plays every day with all the other kids. There’s a million kids around here that play. I know the parents. The parents know me.’”

The arrest caused Williamson to lose his job. Williamson explains that he was arrested in front of all his children, and has since impacted his family.

“Every time that we leave in our car or drive down the street or something like that, every time they see a cop in Blanchester, they freak out and say, ‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, are they going to arrest you?'”

Williamson is due in Clinton County Municipal Court on July 15.

By:Nemo Elkhebri