La Mesa Municipal Code Ch. 10.20 Minors' Curfew

By enacting a curfew regulation that applies to minors and their parents, the city council intends to preserve and promote the safety and welfare of the community and minors during late night hours. This regulation is intended to reasonably balance the public interest and the protected rights of minors and their parents.

(Ord. 97-2679 § 2 (part); July 8, 1997: Ord. 2010-2808, § 1; July 13, 2010)

For purposes of this chapter, the following words or phrases shall mean the following:

(a) "Curfew hours" mean the hours between ten p.m. and five a.m. of the following day.

(b) "Emergency" means an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action. The term includes, without limitation, fire, natural disaster, automobile accident, or any situation requiring immediate action to prevent serious bodily harm or loss of life. "Serious bodily injury" means bodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes death, serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.

(c) "Guardian" means:

(1) A person who, under court order, is the guardian of the person of a minor; or

(2) A public or private agency with which the court has placed a minor.

(d) "Minor" means any person under the age of eighteen years of age.

(e) "Parent" means a person who is a natural parent, adoptive parent, step-parent of a minor or otherwise maintains legal custody of a minor.

(f) "Public place" means any place to which any member of the public has access, including, without limitation, public rights-of-way, public grounds, dedicated open or trail space, or any privately owned unsupervised land that is open and generally available to the public, including, without limitation, vacant lots, school parking lots and common areas, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, housing complexes, shopping centers, malls, and any privately-owned place of business operated for a profit to which the public is invited, including but not limited to any place of amusement or entertainment.

(g) "Responsible adult" means the parent, guardian, or adult person at least twenty-one years old having the responsibility for the care, custody, and control of a minor.

(Ord. 97-2679 § 2 (part); July 8, 1997: Ord. 2010-2808, § 1; July 13, 2010)

No minor shall be present in any public place within the city of La Mesa during curfew hours.

(Ord. 97-2679 § 2 (part); July 8, 1997: Ord. 2010-2808, § 1; July 13, 2010)

No parent, guardian, or responsible adult shall knowingly permit, or by insufficient control, allow a minor to be present in any public place within the city of La Mesa during curfew hours.

(Ord. 97-2679 § 2 (part); July 8, 1997: Ord. 2010-2808, § 1; July 13, 2010)

The prohibitions described in Sections 10.20.030 and 10.20.040 above shall not apply to any minor who, in the alternative, is:

(a) Accompanied by the minor's parent or guardian, or by a responsible adult;

(b) Engaged in or directly en route to or from an employment activity;

(c) Engaged in an emergency;

(d) Present on the sidewalk abutting the minor's residence;

(e) Attending or directly en route to or returning from a school-sponsored, religious, or recreational activity supervised by at least one responsible adult and sponsored and conducted by the city of La Mesa, a civic organization, public agency, charitable organization, religious entity, or other similar entity that takes responsibility for the minor;

(f) On an errand at the direction of the minor's parent, guardian, or a responsible adult without any detour or stop;

(g) In any motor vehicle involved in interstate travel;

(h) Exercising First Amendment rights protected by the United States Constitution, or going to or returning home from, without any detour or stop, the exercising of those First Amendment rights;

(i) Legally emancipated; or

(j) Traveling from an activity listed in Section 10.20.050 to another activity listed in Section 10.20.050, without any detour or stop.

(Ord. 97-2679 § 2 (part); July 8, 1997: Ord. 2010-2808, § 1; July 13, 2010)