Julie Mall is 43 year old mother of two from Charlotte, North Carolina. She works in software sales as Director of North American Pre-Sales at Smart Focus, a tech company. She is married to 45 year old Scott Mall and her children are 11-year-old son Josh and 9-year-old daughter Erin.

Vacation

Julie Mall and her family were on vacation at the exclusive Bald Head Island where golf carts are used instead of cars.

Julie and her family were staying at an $1,000 a day cottage on the island.

Bald Head Island is located 20 miles south of Wilmington, North Carolina and is one of the most enchanting enclaves in the Carolinas.

Arrest

Julie was charged, arrested, handcuffed, and chained for a night in jail for allowing her 11 year old son drive a golf cart when the law required one to be 16 to drive a golf cart.

Julie allowed her 11 year old son to drive the family on a golf cart for a 30 second ride back to their cottage.

She knew it was against the rules since one has to be 16 and have a licence to drive a golf cart in the area.

However she figured there was not much of a risk since her husband was next to the boy.

An officer in a police golf cart pulled them over and according to Julie he “Immediately he started berating us,” and “He was saying ‘How old is this kid?’ ‘Are you guys drunk?’ ‘I could write you up for child abuse.’ ” Julie claimed that she was not intoxicated and only had a single glass of wine.

As the officer’s tirade continued her son burst into tears.

She asked her niece who was with them in the cart to take the children back to the cottage.

Afterwards, Julie told the officer she was angry that he had upset them unnecessarily.

“I said, ‘You ought to be ashamed of yourself,’ and I stuck my finger in his face.”

The officer didn’t have a citation book with him, so he radioed for two more police who arrived later.

Julie was arrested by James Hunter an officer who had only been with the force for one year, “He said, ‘You need to go back to your golf cart or I’m going to cuff you,’ ” she says.

“He lunged across at me, twisting my arm behind my back.

I’m hysterical.

I’ve never been that scared of anything in my life.”

Her husband said he saw Ryan knee his wife Julie in the back while arresting her.

Julie says she was examined by a doctor on the island, who said she suffered whiplash-like injuries.

Charges

Hunter charged Julie with resisting a public officer, intoxicated and disruptive and misdemeanor child abuse.

Her bond was set $1,000 bond.

After being put in jail the officers removed her handcuffs but chained her in the jail cell, and she had to spend a night in jail.

The next day she was bailed out by her husband.

The charges were dropped as James Hunter the officer did not appear in court, however the charges could be reinstated anytime within the next two years by the district attorney.

Mall works as a volunteer at charities and her children’s schools St. Matthew in Ballantyne and Holy Trinity in Charlotte and is concerned that routine record checks showing she’d been charged with child abuse could make her ineligible for service.