Apr 22, 2009 6:00 am US/Eastern
Mom Arrested After Kicking Bickering Kids To Curb
Scarsdale Woman Was Apparently Trying To Teach Her Pre-Teen Girls A Lesson; Now She's Facing Charges
Spends Night In Jail; Judge Issues Restraining Order
SCARSDALE, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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A good Samaritan took the distraught 10-year-old to this ice cream store and called police. (file)
CBS
Did a Westchester mother go too far when she kicked her kids to the curb and drove away?
No doubt many parents have threatened it. But few actually do it.
"Sometimes you say you're going to kick them out of the car, but you don't do it," said Scarsdale mother Elinor Gutierrez.
But police said 45-year-old Madlyn Primoff did. She's accused of kicking her fighting daughters out of her car in White Plains and driving off Sunday evening.
She allegedly circled the block a few times, lost sight of the 10- and 12-year-olds, but then drove to her multi-million dollar home in Scarsdale.
"They're lovely people, it sounds extraordinarily out of character," said neighbor Seth Greenberg.
According to the police report, the 10-year-old was emotional as she described her mom demanding both youths exit the vehicle when they wouldn't stop fighting.
The 12-year-old was found walking home. A good Samaritan took the distraught 10-year-old to an ice cream store and called police.
"That kind of anger when two kids are fighting in your car, it's kind of contagious," said Suzanne Burger, family psychologist.
Burger said parents must cool off before making a decision that could endanger a child.
"When people are feeling that kind of emotional flooding they don't access the best parts of their brain or the parts that make rational choices," she said.
Primoff's lawyer called her a great mother with a great family, grateful for the outpouring of support from friends and neighbors.
Primoff spent Sunday night in the White Plains lock-up, then made bail on Monday, right after a judge hit her with a restraining order restricting her contact with her own children.
Police said the mother exhibited "inadequate guardianship" as her 10-year old wandered White Plains alone for 40 minutes.
Primoff is a partner at Kaye-Scholer, a prominent Manhattan law firm.
On Tuesday night the firm told CBS 2 HD the charge against Primoff is "a private, personal matter."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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