New York is reminded again of the strange parenting customs of the Danish with the return of Anette Sorensen and her lawsuit against the city. Back in 1997, Sorenson was visiting with her husband and baby. The couple ate inside the Dallas BBQ on Second Avenue in the East Village; the baby was parked in her stroller outside. Police then arrested Sorenson. While the city's child endangerment charges against her and her husband were eventually dropped (apparently it's de rigeur to leave your kid in a stroller on the street in Denmark), Sorenson sued for the city for $10 million, but was only awarded $1. Her current lawsuit is against the police who allegedly strip searched her.
This story has always baffled Gothamist, because only an idiot would leave a child in a stroller on Second Avenue unsupervised. Sure, the East Village is gentrified, even back in 1997, but come on, not even on the Upper West Side or Seventh Avenue in Park Slope are babies left by themselves. We thought New York's reputation preceded itself, but maybe Giuliani did too good a job in making tourists think we'd cleaned up our act.
