Cops: Teacher locks son in car at bar to watch band
A Haverford High School teacher's unwavering love for Celtic rock has put him in hot water with the law and with his employer after he brought his young sons to a bar to see a Celtic rock performance Saturday and locked one of the kids alone in his car when the boy acted up, according to court documents.
Cops: Teacher locks son in car at bar to watch band
Stephanie Farr
A Haverford High School teacher's unwavering love for Celtic rock has put him in hot water with the law and with his employer after he brought his young sons to a bar to see a performance Saturday and locked one of the kids alone in his car when the boy acted up, according to court documents.
Keith Barnes, 50, of Ridley Township, was charged with endangering the welfare of children and disorderly conduct for the incident and he has been suspended from his job pending the outcome of the investigation, according to court documents and school officials.
Around 6:45 p.m., Ridley Township police were called to Tom and Jerry's Sports Bar on MacDade Boulevard for reports of a child locked inside of a Toyota in the bar's parking lot.
The temperature was about 45 degrees and police determined the 3-year-old boy had been locked in the car for about 20 minutes, according to court documents. After trying unsuccessfully to open the car for several minutes, the boy's father, Barnes, finally came out of the bar with his other son - a 4-year-old - in tow, police said.
Barnes smelled like booze and told police he'd initially brought both boys in to the bar to enjoy the musical stylings of the band Blackthorn, but the 3-year-old started acting up so he locked him in the car, according to court documents.
Police said Barnes didn't seem to see the big deal in leaving a toddler locked alone in his car and instead kept pointing out to police what he felt was more important, "that he is a musician and Blackthorn is a national act."
Funny, Blackthorn doesn't even call themselves a national act. On their website, they say they have 20 years at the "forefront of the Philadelphia music scene."
Police told Barnes that locking one of your kids in your car and bringing them both to a bar with plans of driving home after drinking was not super smart, according to court documents.
That Barnes allegedly had to be told this is troubling, especially given the fact that he teaches kids for a living at Haverford High School. According to a video of Barnes on YouTube, he has taught for 28 years and teaches computer aided drafting and design at Haverford.
This morning, Haverford School District Superintendent Bill Keilbaugh said Barnes has been suspended from his teaching position pending the outcome of the investigation.
"The classes will move forward appropriately but pending the outcome of the investigation, he’s been removed from the class," Keilbaugh said.
As for Barnes' children, they were turned over to their mother Saturday night. Barnes did submit to a portable breath test and had a blood alcohol content of .06, according to police.
who cares about the writer someone should lock her in the car too.... maybe they should both go out 2 idiots.. ...... where is the wht trash mother does she know the guy is an A Hole........— S.HUBBS- I have to agree that Stephanie Farr is clueless. She refers to "court documents" while the police report is still not finished. Court documents is code for "I have a leaker in the PD" who will pass me the juicy ones. Let's call Blackthorn regional then. Oh boy.— boroughboy
- I'm 75% Irish and laughed at the Irish joke. Also, the legal threshold in PA for drunk driving is lower when you have children in the car.— DogfightingAficionado
Wow, they must have re-edited this article because there's no mention of the "celtic rock head" comment. Being 1/16th Irish, I wanted to blast on Stephanie Farr too, but I can't because they changed the story. Next time Steph...Next time.- No harm - no foul...
— fire fighter - Well dad DID say the 3 year old was acting up. Ever deal with a 3 year olds temper tantrum?...ESPECIALLY while your favorite band was playing?— gilligan
Comment removed.- The 3YO was in getting a time out for his bad behavior. Now the Dad is going to get one too for his bad decision. So it took the cops 20 minutes of trying to gain entry to his car, unsuccessfully. Those suburban cops need some slim Jim training, couldn't they have coached him to just open the door for them, unless he got daddy's intelect? Young master Barnes was probably not a Blackthorn fan, smart kid.— NWBeachBum
- IF the accusations are true, the union will probably defend him. You can't go more than a month or so without reading of a PA teacher being accused of using very poor judgement. Perhaps just unfair accusations— robtpenn
- You might want to check some of your facts Stephanie. Delco Times says the guy lives in Rutledge not Ridley. Rather different neighborhoods. Sad day when the Delco Times is more accurate than the Inquirer...— schme212
- Interesting...
- Is this a news piece or an opinion piece? This writer has a sly way of asserting her snarky and judgmental opinion every other line. Clearly this man did a bad thing, but can't you let the reader come to that conclusion on their own? Is it necessary to mock him through your writing? Sheesh.— scase16
If you want to know who loves you more, lock your wife and your dog in the car trunk, then see who is happy to see you when you let them out.— The Monk- Glad his kid is ok - and hope he gets his life back on track. To those Irish haters - Even if you're not into Celtic music (I am) Blackthorn rocks. They sent CDs to a bunch of us when we were deployed overseas and a few of their songs became daily anthems. I also know they are one of the most charitable bands out there. I go to the FOP Fallen Survivors Charity at Maggies waterfrint every year.— SemperFi12
