Posted on 06/07/2005 1:10:14 PM PDT by SamFromLivingston
The fact that there was a several-hour gap between the time that the kid should have been dropped off, and the time the cops were called. Seems to me that a normal parent would be making calls when he was an hour late (and probably still alive).
That said, I can actually see how this would happen -- small kid falls asleep, strapped in the car seat in the way back of the van. Driver forgets he's there, parks, and leaves. The rest is history.
Nothing worse than when a child suffers.
The driver, with full awareness, choose not to make the turn for the little boy's stop. Then he choose not to take the boy to his home, although he was fully aware that he did not drop that child off, the child was still on the bus.
No accident here.
I've always drive older cars. But my son just bought a used 1997 Chrysler Concorde.
It has a rear door lock system with "child protection"
If it's enabled it doesn't matter what age you are - YOU CANNOT GET OUT OF THE BACK DOORS NO MATTER WHAT. The rear doors can only be opened from the outside. The mechanism can only be enabled or disabled with the DOOR OPEN.
Could this have been the case?
Then again, I work 12 hours a day so I'm grateful for any time I get to spend with my children.
They didn't miss the kid for 5 hours. Maybe they were working 80 hours in Industry for a big fatty paycheck.
All of these types of cases demand charges to be brought (and too many don't).
What you advocate is a nanny solution and the sort of legal liability no manufacturer would dare take on short of a government mandate.
I wonder if he was not meaning to kill the child but was punishing the child for some reason.
I don't agree. The child probably fell asleep and was overlooked as a result.
You are claiming this was First Degree Murder?
That is our mantra, much to my in laws chagrin. They are always bugging me about sleep overs and big trips to the zoo with my oldest son (3 1/2). My FIL has health problems and my MIL has a problem with common sense. Besides, after 3 hours of an afternoon with him, she needs to go to bed at 8.
That's a good point. People might become dependent on the device and sue the manufacturer if it malfunctioned. I also agree that we all need to be more attentive and responsible.
However, I still think it's a good idea. Like seatbelts and airbags, of course there is a downside, but overall the good outweighs the bad.
A safety feature to remind people a carseat is snapped in with a kid would save lives. It probably would not have saved a three year old, but it would save infants.
It could be a feature you chose when you bought your car. The device could be imaginative -- a loud sound that went off if you opened the driver's door and the seat was snapped in is only one idea.
My car has lights and noises when I don't put on my safety belt, and other lights if I leave a door open. Why not lights and a bell when a car seat is left snapped into the car??
Bingo.
The engineers are suggesting these sorts of things all the time, and the lawyers are file those suggestions in the circular file. If there is a guilty party, it is the lawyer/insurer/politician.
Put what degree you want on it, but there are no degrees to death. Dead is dead. Murder (which this was) is murder.
We both have kids. I know how I would look at this, and you've indicated how you would look at it. We disagree.
Prayers for that little boy and his parents.
I have a young kindergartener. I cannot imagune any circumstance in which I would have allowed five hours to pass from the time she was due home before taking action to find out where she was and why she was late.
If I had a baby sitter or relative waiting for her because I was out, I would certainly have called from wherever I was to check that my daughter got home safely long before five hours had passed.
When she was only 3, I would have been even more vigilant.
Say what you want about the bus driver, who should certainly pay criminally for his negligence.
But bottom line it that this tragedy is the parents' fault, plain and simple. No excuses. None. They should be charged with negligent homicide for their failure to take action.
Every year something like this happens. {groan}
If you make a device like that an *option* then the idiots who need reminding will not get the device. It won't happen without a gov't mandate.
How bout something revolutionary like a parent at home, and school districts designed so that most kids walk back and forth to school?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.