SonandLaw Problem

3YEAROLD AIDS IN DAD'S DRUGRELATED ARREST

OXNARD, Calif. Hailed as a hero, a 3yearold boy has been awarded a
special junior officer badge by Oxnard police after the child helped them
arrest his father for marijuana possession.

And after spending the night in the Ventura County jail and enrolling
Wednesday in a drug treatment program the boy's father said he agreed
that his son had done the right thing. "I'm glad he did it," said Keith
Wallace outside his west Ventura home. "It's a very humbling experience to
be busted by your own flesh and blood. It makes you want to stop using
drugs. It gives you the definite desire to stop."

The child's mother, however, was not in such a positive mood. Described as
extremely angry when first contacted by police, she was in tears Wednesday
afternoon. "I can't take any more of this," she said.

Police would not identify the child because of his age, and his parents
also refused to, but the police made it clear they see him as a poster
child of sorts for the local narcotics squad.

"In about 20 years, we may interview him for a job," said department
spokesman David Keith.

Wallace, 25, was already in trouble when his son got into the act. Oxnard
Police Officers Mike Marostica and Sergio Figueroa had pulled Wallace over
Tuesday about 6:40 p.m., saying they clocked him doing 78 mph in a 55 mph
zone.

The officers said they detected the smell of alcohol, and noted that the
young boy was not secured in a car seat. As Figueroa administered a field
sobriety test, Marostica kept an eye on the boy, who was moving around in
the Toyota Camry.

That is when the child reached out the window, holding a bag containing
less than an ounce of marijuana, said Keith. He quoted the boy as telling
Marostica the dope was "bad."

"Kids say the darndest things," said Keith.

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