Associated Press

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Ia. — Police say a Council Bluffs mother has been charged after leaving her 12-year-old son on a roadside when he threw a tantrum.

The Daily Nonpareil reports that the 33-year-old woman is set to be arraigned Feb. 20 on child endangerment and abandonment charges.

An officer found the boy walking along an Interstate 80 ramp at 6:30 a.m. in the morning last fall. The boy said his mother left him after he got out of the car over an argument about which shoes to wear to his school in Omaha, Nebraska.

Police say the boy had no phone, money for food or a key to the hotel room.

Police say the mother initially verified the boy's account, asking police, "What am I supposed to do? Be late for work?"