Poker is Not an Excuse

It was 95 degrees in St. Augustine, Florida this past Wednesday. That heat did not stop a 36-year-old father of two from leaving his children in the car so he could play poker. Shortly before 3pm the man pulled into the St. Johns Greyhound Park, on Racetrack Rd. in St. Augustine. He left the keys in the car, and the air conditioning running while he went inside. Some one saw his two children, ages 3 and 7 unattended in a running car, and called the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office.

When the police arrived on the scene, the older child explained their dad was in the poker room, and had been for a few moments. The police then went inside and requested security page their father Terrence Davis. When he came to learn what was going on, he told the police he was only there long enough to play 4 or 5 hands. He was subsequently arrested and taken to the St. John's county jail, charged with 2 counts of child neglect with a bond of 2000 dollars.

The children's mother came to get custody of her boys..

While the car was running and the air conditioning was one, the officials have expressed that Davis could potentially face traffic charges for leaving a car running and unattended.

"In today's society, you just never know," St. Johns County Sheriff's Office spokesman Chuck Mulligan said. "Someone could have gone and busted a window out and taken a child or taken them in a carjacking."

A representative for the Greyhound track and the associated poker rooms announced that Terrence Davis would be banned from St. Johns and two other Northeast Florida Greyhound Tracks and facilities. They also announced changes in their security program due to the incident. The spokesman made it clear any thing similar will equally not be tolerated, and the police will be called in, and they will also face the same situation Davis is currently in.