Professor gives son "hard" lemonade, loses custody

4/29/2008

The Detroit Free Press reports:

A Detroit archaeology professor brought his 7-year-old son to a Tigers game, and bought him what he thought was regular lemonade. That was, until a security guard spotted the bottle and called child protective services. The boy was taken to the hospital, and then placed in foster care for 2 days before his mother was allowed to regain custody. To view the complete story, click here.

While most officials involved thought the action was unnecessary, seemingly no one had the authority to stop it.

"Almost everyone Chris Ratte met the night they took Leo away conceded the state was probably overreacting.

"The sympathetic cop who interviewed Ratte and his son at the hospital said she was convinced what happened had been an accident, but that her supervisor was insisting the matter be referred to Child Protective Services.

"And Ratte thought the two child protection workers who came to take Leo away seemed more annoyed with the police than with him. "This is so unnecessary," one told Ratte before driving away with his son.

"But there was really nothing any of them could do, they all said. They were just adhering to protocol, following orders."