newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

When Frank Roder of Winfield Park, N.J. accidently left his Jeep in drive on a hill because his 5-year-old son Aidan was running unabated towards a 35-foot embankment, the car slid into a river. The police decided to give him two tickets totaling $110, one for not putting his emergency brake on and another for lacking proof of car insurance.

Roder said, according to abc13.com, "I panicked and grabbed the windshield washer thing and thought it was the gear for park.”

Despite the extenuating circumstances regarding Roder’s son, the police still blamed Roder for being careless.

Roder said the officer told him, according to Sympatico.ca Autos, "If you would have taken the five seconds to apply the brake, this never would have happened! I say, 'Really? And if I did and my boy stepped over the edge and fell instead of the Jeep, then were would I be?' He says, 'Jail, for child endangerment.'"

In regards to the second ticket, Roder could not have provided adequate proof of insurance, for the insurance was in his Jeep that went into the river.

CBS New York reported that in the police report, the officers wrote that Roder’s SUV was “left in gear, in the drive position,” raising the question: did he purposely total the Jeep? Roder denied the accusation, saying, “I wouldn’t bring my kid to do something stupid like that.”

Police are given some discretion about writing tickets, according to Union County Police Chief Daniel Vaniska. He told FoxNews.com, “The fellow will have an opportunity to tell his story in court," which will be on Wednesday, May 30.