Pete Buttigieg says family investigated over baseless child abuse allegation

Pete Buttigieg , the former US transportation secretary, said on Friday an anonymous and – police say – meritless accusation of child abuse led Child Protective Services to investigate his family. In a Substack post published on Friday, Buttigieg described the incident – which resulted in him being separated from his four-year-old twins – as “among the darkest hours of my life” and likened the accusation to “swatting”, the practice of calling police with a false report of an emergency to trigger a law enforcement response. “Now imagine the same concept, but with Child Protective Services instead of a SWAT team,” Buttigieg wrote. “Hadn’t thought of that? Me neither, until a few days ago when a police officer and a CPS worker showed up at our home and politely asked to speak with me.” In a statement, a spokesperson for the Michigan state police acknowledged the incident, saying the department had received an “anonymous report” earlier this week and “determined the report was false”. “The Michigan state police and Child Protective Services responded and determined the report was false,” said Shanon Banner, the department spokesperson. …