A video of a Duluth, Georgia, mother went viral earlier this week, and people are wondering what the heck she was thinking. Diana Denise Shaffer, 36, allegedly put her 12-year-old son in the trunk and took him for a ride on a busy stretch of road. Another driver began tailing the mother and son and recorded the incredible footage of the boy's head peeking out of the trunk.
Someone turned the viral video in to the Gwinnett County Police Department, which tracked down Shaffer and arrested her. Thankfully, her son was not harmed but was placed in temporary custody after his mother's arrest.
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As soon as police saw the video, they began their investigation.
Per WANF, the video first appeared on Instagram where user @megpegdeg posted it and tagged @atlscoop, which has 870,000 followers. It quickly went viral, and someone contacted the police.
"In the video, a child is seen in the trunk of a Dodge passenger car as it is being driven on a roadway. The video referenced 'Gwinnett County,' but it was unclear exactly where it was filmed or when the incident occurred," a news release from police reads. "There was a large object in the trunk along with the child. An out-of-state license plate was displayed on the back of the vehicle."
Investigators got to work.
The alarming video concerned police, who assigned a Special Victims Unit detective to investigate. Police said they used FLOCK surveillance and saw the suspect's car in the area of Pleasant Hill and Shackleford roads on February 25.
The images in that surveillance video reportedly showed the child in the trunk. Police identified Shaffer and went to her house the following day.
She reportedly had a pretty wild story.
The mother told police her son was in the car for what she apparently thought was a good reason.
"The detective identified the registered owner and met with her on February 27 at her home in Duluth. The item in the trunk was a baby bassinet recently purchased through an online marketplace advertisement, and the child (boy, age 12) was sitting in the trunk to help hold the item in place," the release from police reads.
The video shocked people on social media.
People couldn't believe what they were seeing. The boy's head popped out as he appeared to be holding onto the bassinet. There were so many questions.
"would like for this to result in the identification and prosecution of this person because … what????????" someone asked.
Others hoped it was just a mistake.
"I hope the back seat was let down and the kid just crawled back there without the driver knowing ….& NOT PUT in the trunk," another person commented.
It just didn't make sense.
"This is absolutely absurd. What is wrong with some people," someone else wrote.
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The mother was promptly arrested.
Police took Shaffer into custody on February 27, took her to Gwinnett County Jail, and put her son in the custody of a relative until the mother posted bond the following day, WANF reported. She was charged with reckless conduct and a seat belt violation. It was unclear when she will appear in court on the charges.
