When Jessica Wood, a 17-year-old from Baylor School, was walking with her friends at Hamilton Place mall on a Friday night, a mall cop spotted her and immediately came to escort her out of the building.
Like so many teenagers in the area, Wood had unwittingly broken one of the several unaccompanied-minor restrictions across Chattanooga.
Since March 2001, security officers at Hamilton Place mall have barred anyone under 18 from shopping unaccompanied past 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Since then, many Chattanooga-area facilities have followed suit in prohibiting unaccompanied minors from using their premises as a way to curb suspicious activity.
On March 29, the Chattanooga City Council passed Ordinance 12493, making it unlawful for any person under the age of 18 to use Coolidge Park between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. without adult supervision.
Police Chief Bobby Dodd asked the council to consider the measure after the March 19 shootings at Coolidge Park that involved a mass meeting of youths and was reportedly connected to gang activities.