chicagotribune.com

While a Tinley Park woman celebrated, the Crestwood police chief said he was disappointed that prosecutors Thursday dropped charges of child endangerment and obstruction of justice against her for leaving her toddler asleep in a parked car.

“We’re not happy with the decision. . .she clearly refused to cooperate with our officers that night, and we believe this sends the wrong message to the public,” police Chief Timothy Sulikowski said. “We stand behind our officers and the decision they made that night to protect the welfare of that child.”

Ellen “Treffly” Coyne, 36, appeared Thursday afternoon in the Bridgeview branch of Cook County Circuit Court, where Assistant State’s Atty. Peggy Gill-Curtin told Judge James J. Ryan that “based on the completed investigation into all the facts of the case, the state has concluded it would be unable to meet the burden of proof at trial.”

As she walked toward the courtroom door, her husband, Tim Janecyk, 38, met her in the aisle and hugged her. As they embraced, the judge said, “Sir, you have to go outside.”

Coyne and her three daughters, Sierra, 9, Haley, 8, and Phoebe, 2, went to a Wal-Mart in Crestwood on Dec. 8 to donate $8.29 the children had collected for the annual Salvation Army kettle drive. Phoebe was asleep, so Coyne said she parked at the curb, shut off the engine, locked the doors and activated the hazard lights and car alarm before leaving the station wagon to take a photo of the girls as they put their coins into the bucket.

Coyne said she was never more than 30 feet from the vehicle and was gone for only a few minutes. A Crestwood community service officer saw the girl in the car and called for police.

In Illinois, parents who leave a child age 6 or younger unattended in a car can be charged with misdemeanor child endangerment, which carries a penalty of up to 1 year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

“We have contended all along that the child was never unattended in the vehicle, that Miss Coyne, the whole entire time, could see the vehicle from where she was standing,” said Coyne’s attorney, Michelle Forbes. She added that the community service officer did not have a clear view of Coyne while she was away from her car.

“The officers at the scene never bothered to listen to her story—they just chose to charge her,” Forbes said. “We’re glad that the state’s attorney’s office reviewed all the evidence, looked at the [store security] videotape and agreed with us that no crime was committed.”

News stories about Coyne’s arrest sparked heated debate across the country on Internet message boards, with some accusing the police of abusing their power and others supporting them for their quick action.

Sulikowski said Thursday that the security video shows Coyne was away from the vehicle for about seven minutes, and that the community service officer who noticed the car said Coyne was about 70 feet away and her view of the vehicle was blocked by a cement pillar.

Forbes disputed that, saying she saw the video and it shows Coyne was away for around three minutes.

Coyne said an angry officer was waiting for her when she returned to the car. The chief acknowledged that a police sergeant who responded to the scene was dating the community service officer who confronted Coyne, but said that had no bearing on the arrest. “What’s the relevance,” he said.

After the hearing, Coyne and her husband said the strain of the case has worn on their family and they thanked people who sent notes of encouragement.

“I feel very grateful. I don’t even know where to begin. It’s hard to be living 97 days under the scrutiny of being called a child abuser when no child was abused,” Coyne said.

“We shouldn’t have had to fight this hard, this long, in a case where they knew she did nothing wrong,” Janecyk said.

Coyne and her family have asked for an apology from Crestwood, but Sulikowski defended his officers’ actions.

“We are obligated under Illinois law to report any abuse or neglect if reasonable cause exists,” Sulikowski said. “Once we observed the vehicle and the child unattended, we are obligated to follow this through. By Ms. Coyne failing to provide basic information to our officers on the scene, it prevented us from doing our job.”

Coyne and her husband said they want to lobby the state legislature to rewrite the law to avoid confusion.

mwalberg@tribune.com