Another WTF moment

This is one of the dumber things I've heard in the past couple of days.

Joseph Cohen is a Boston cab driver. On Sunday, he picked up a family at Logan airport and drove them to their home in the Boston area. He helped them unload their luggage and then drove off. A few minutes later he gets a call from the cab pool that the police are looking for him. Apparently the family forgot their sleeping 5 year-old in the back seat. He drove back to the family's home and handed the sleeping kid back to the parents. The father was so grateful that he apparently gave Mr Cohen a $50 tip.

Why is this a WTF moment, do you ask? It sounds like a story with a nice happy ending.

Well, the next day the cabbie gets called up on the carpet and told (by police, mind you) that his license would be suspended for three days because he didn't do a thorough check of the van. WTF? He appealed, and when he showed up the next day (with a lawyer) he was given a warning instead.

"We are very happy that the baby was safely returned to mom and dad," said Elaine Driscoll, a police spokeswoman. "That said, it was an important opportunity to remind cab drivers why we have a rule that dictates they must check the back of their cab after every fare." Was this all about making this cabbie an example? I think that's insane -- that shit never works.

Note that the parents, who in my mind are ultimately responsible for their child in this situation, were not charged with anything. If I had been the kid's parent, I would have been down at the police station telling them that they should leave the guy alone... Then again, that would've annoyed the cops, and I would've been charged with child endangerment.

H/T to Yahoo