Odd experience...need help

Okay,

Today I went to get lunch from a Chinese place. I parked my car in front of the store, at the curb, still running with my kid inside (he has a fever, no flames please) and went inside to pick it up. The car was in my view at all times and I was in the store for less than five minutes. A lady comes running in yelling at me for leaving my kid in the car. There is some sort of cop waiting for his food and he says he needs to see my license and he'll meet me at my car. He is not a normal looking police officer, but he was in some sort of officer uniform. He comes out, takes my license and gets on his cell phone.

He brings me my license back, gets my phone number and says he'll call me tomorrow. I asked what to expect and he said he's giving me a warning for the kid in the car, but I'm getting a ticket for leaving the car running unattended.

I'm wondering...wtf happened?

If I was going to get ticketed, shouldn't he have written it then? And if he didn't have the authority, shouldn't he have called for backup?

I'm not sure what to think.

Also he didn't give me his card or anything and I have no clue who he was or who he worked for, but he did have a green car with lights on the top and insignia on the door, but I just didn't pay attention to what it was.

Okay, I called my local PD and they told me the officer was from Department of Natural Resources and yes they have the ability to write tickets and he's not sure why it wasn't done at the scene. So I guess I'll just wait until tomorrow to see if he calls and what he has to say.

I've had a similar situation, where the officer that saw me do something didn't have the authority to write the ticket, but called someone else who did.

If he followed through, you might still get a ticket; if not and he didn't write it, count it up to good luck and experience.

It seems that it's illegal to leave your car when it's running in your area - there have probably been too many stolen. IMO it might have been better to shut it off for the 5 minutes you were inside, and lock it up. It's tough when you have a sick baby but having your car stolen - with baby inside - I'm certain is why the police were upset.

I've had a similar situation, where the officer that saw me do something didn't have the authority to write the ticket, but called someone else who did.

If he followed through, you might still get a ticket; if not and he didn't write it, count it up to good luck and experience.

It seems that it's illegal to leave your car when it's running in your area - there have probably been too many stolen. IMO it might have been better to shut it off for the 5 minutes you were inside, and lock it up. It's tough when you have a sick baby but having your car stolen - with baby inside - I'm certain is why the police were upset.
Wouldn't one think that it would be a law all over about leaving your car idling unattended? In my area the police enforce this law very well. I see in our local paper they are constantly writing tickets to drivers who leave their vehicle running and unattended, even to run inside a store for "a few minutes". Add to that a couple of incidences earlier this year where a vehicle was stolen with a child in the backseat. In one particular incidence a man running from police who were trying to arrest him came across a idling, unattended car parked at a convenience store. There was a child in the back and he soon realized it before he fled the lot in that car. He quickly pulled over, got out, unbuckled the car seat and left the kid and the car seat in the middle of the parking lot and then took off.