MATTAPOISETT, MA (WHDH) — Police in Mattapoisett said they have arrested a woman on charges she abandoned her son on the side of the road in below-freezing temperatures.
Investigators said Marina Johnson’s 11-year-old son knocked on the door of a home on Mattapoisett Neck Road Friday night, asking for a ride to New Bedford. The resident brought the young boy into his home to await the arrival of police.
Police said officers found the boy “visibly shaking and crying.” They said the weather at the time was 26 degrees and windy, and that the boy was not wearing a gloves or a hat.
The boy told police that his mother ordered him out of the car around 8:45 p.m. because he “acts up.” He said his mother told him to shut the car door before speeding off.
When asked where he lives, the boy told the officers that his house had burned down, and that he was staying with his mother and brother at a shelter in New Bedford.
New Bedford police responded to the shelter in search of Johnson. They said Johnson fled with her 8-year-old son when officers arrived.
Police said Johsnon was later arrested after being found knee deep in water and mud at a nearby marsh.
Joshnson is charged with reckless endangerment of a child and abandonment of a child without support.
She was arraigned Monday and ordered held on $25,000 bail.
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