Couple Pulled Baby In Trailer Behind Moped

MAY 13--A South Carolina couple is facing child neglect charges for placing their infant daughter in a bicycle trailer that they towed behind their moped as they went on a food run to Taco Bell.

Bianca Rose Allen, 18, and Mark Andrew Cherry, 21, were arrested Sunday evening after a state trooper pulled over the duo’s three-wheeled moped on a wet roadway in Myrtle Beach (the area was under a weather advisory due to Tropical Storm Ana).

According to a police report, the bicycle trailer was perilously tethered to the moped by a one-inch nylon strap (the trailer and the moped can be seen in the above evidence photo). The strap was attached to the bicycle trailer by a screw and washer that had “torn three quarters of the way through the strap.”

In addition to the weakened strap, the bicycle trailer had one flat tire and did not have any safety reflectors attached to it, investigators noted.

During police questioning, Allen said that her seven-month-old baby was “buckled up” in the bicycle trailer, adding that she was unaware that the carriage could not be used behind a motor vehicle.

Cherry told officers that when he purchased the trailer he was “told it was also for a moped.” He added that the couple was "just going down the road" when they were pulled over.

Allen and Cherry were each charged with felony child neglect for transporting the infant in “an unsafe bicycle trailer that was attached to the moped that they were driving...during a tropical storm.” Pictured above, the couple was released from jail after they each posted $5000 bail.

Custody of the infant was turned over to Allen’s mother, with whom Allen and the baby reside. As a result of her arrest, Allen is not allowed to have unsupervised visits with her daughter. (2 pages)