Are you insane in the membrane?
Posted on 09/21/2007 8:40:28 AM PDT by suthener
Infant found dead in SUV Posted by Laura Zaichkin September 20, 2007 10:20 PM Categories: breaking news An 8-month-old girl was discovered dead in a vehicle outside a Government Street school and day care at about 5 p.m. this evening, authorities said.
The gray Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle where the infant was found was parked between the Little Flower Catholic Church parish offices and the church's school.
The girl did not attend the school, which is located in the Loop area, Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said tonight.
However, the girl's father, whose custody she was in at the time she was discovered, had other children who attended Little Flower, Tyson said.
The father was at a local hospital tonight for what Tyson described as "his emergency." Tyson would not disclose the nature the emergency. He said the child's mother was at the hospital with the dad.
Tyson said that police do not believe foul play was a factor in the little girl's death.
"The early indication is that this is a wonderful family," Tyson said.
Authorities would not disclose the names of the girl or her parents, saying they are waiting until more family members are notified.
Did the father try to kill himself? How long was the child in the car?
General rule of thumb - if the family is poor and/or Black, it is a crime. If the family is White and upper middle class, it is an unfortunate accident.
The child could not be reached for comment on this.
Anyone blame the SUV yet?
General rule of thumb - if the family is poor and/or Black, it is a crime. If the family is White and upper middle class, it is an unfortunate accident.
And if it were a family pet, the world would be outraged.
Really sad to read about a lil child being found dead no matter what the circumstance.
That’s all they have right now. I’ll try to post an update when more info is available.
These will keep coming until the government allows child seats to be placed in the front seat.
ahhh - I think you may be reaching for that one
Let's see the stats.
Indeed. Also, one will be much more likely to be indicted if one has a previous record of neglect or abuse.
Maybe something like a timer in your pocket that would go off...
People get so used to routine that when something differs from the usual = like, today you have the little one - they follow the routine like automatons and the little ones are forgotten...
So true. The fight for allowing child seats in the front will have to be led by a parent who has lost a child because of the back-seat law. It takes a “victim” to get attention in this society.
WTH? You’re kidding, right? ...and this is no kidding matter.
99.99% of the time it is an accident, whatever the color of the family. I cannot believe that you actually believe what you posted.
Geez!
‘Anyone blame the SUV yet?’
Beyond the veiled attempt by whoever wrote the headline?
That is quite a remark...
The article in question did not mention the ethnicity of the victom or family members....
Makes one wonder...
About the prediposed opinions and attitudes behind such a remark....
I concur with wideawake....
Let's see the stats
Or let's have a retraction of your comment.
Any stats to back that assinine statement up?
I don’t know about that. I recall one case that was prosecuted where the driver of a daycare vehicle was black. I only know that because of the picture in the paper.I would think that had something to do with the person’s job responsibilities. Otherwise, I don’t thnk I’ve been aware of the person’s race.
PAR35 = Racial Troll - Don’t feed please!
Really? It seems to me the deciding factor about how it’s classified is what the parent who was driving the car was doing while the child was forgotten, or in some cases left deliberately. Getting your hair done, video poker, etc. don’t get anyone off the hook, regardless of color or economic status. Being at work tends to be viewed differently, with good reason. If there’s a correlation with race and economic status, it’s probably because black and poor people are disproportionately likely to be running their lives irresponsibly, and not holding down a job.
I’m sure its not the mans fault. He was busy,distracted or late for a meeting... (sarcasm alert) or whatever excuse some poster will think of to excuse his neglect.
Are you insane in the membrane?
OK
For the record: I have no idea if that's true or not. I'm just clarifying what I think the poster is saying.
Should have put that to everybody. Didn’t mean just to you. Yours was just the last post replied.
You are aware that about half of the cases result in prosecution, aren't you? And that the vast majority of those cases end up with a conviction or plea? So you are saying that folks are wrongly convicted in half the cases? Such as this woman who returned to her car 5 times during the day, moving the car once, who wasn't prosecuted? (White, middle class job) http://www.newsnet5.com/news/14047322/detail.html
I can't believe that YOU actually believe what you posted.
And if you posted without being aware of the facts, do a little research. You can start here: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/3D335702E1BA436286257352000A6F73?OpenDocument
He didn't say anything about "types of families" - he was talking specifically about color and class.
I think if you do some digging....the same prosecutor who decided to not press charges against the assistand principal/mom who left her 2 yr. old in her SUV, DID decide to prosecute a poor black couple who discovered their child in their van (left there by a teenage sibling) -and thought they had revived the child with drinks, a bath, and tylenol (child drank well - but seized and died hours later).
How would permitting child seats in the front seat help to avert these types of crimes/tragedies?
The article is not clear about what actually happened. Did he leave the baby in the vehicle on purpose? Did he forget about the baby? It doesn’t say.
What does this article mean by the baby was in the “custody” of the father?
Also needs to be a federal law protecting any passer-by from liability for smashing the window of a car that has a young child alone inside. Nobody should have to stop and think before doing this. Nobody should think they have to first make sure the child is really in imminent danger of permanent harm. Nobody should think they should call 911 and wait for police and ambulance to arrive and let the “professionals” handle it. Nobody should check and see that the child seems to be alright, breathing normally, eyes open and alert, and decide that means they should walk on by, because the child doesn’t seem to have been there long and the parent is probably coming right back (the child who died a couple of weeks ago in a hospital parking lot HAD to have been seen by multiple people before it was too late).
Everyone should be very clear on the fact that if you leave a young child alone in a car with the doors closed, even for “just a minute”, anyone and everyone who sees this is perfectly free to smash your window. If you’re pumping gas or some other activity where you’re really just a few feet away, can see the child from where you are, and really will be “just a minute”, then you can leave the door open safely.
Yet another post-birth abortion.
Clearly, we need to outlaw these maniacal machines!
“If you’re pumping gas or some other activity where you’re really just a few feet away, can see the child from where you are, and really will be “just a minute”, then you can leave the door open safely.”
except when it’s zero degrees outside.
Not everyone lives in the south.
I drive a Dodge Durango, and I have always suspected it of evil intent!
Rather than trusting it to babysit, I believe from now on I will remove babies from their child safety seats and take them with me when I leave the car, no matter how much it begs me to leave the child behind!
Well said GS, I agree 100%.
I can only hope that in this case, the father might have been having a heart attack of something that prevented him from being able to take the child with him to the hospital and that it was not a case of pure neglect. I’m optomistic to a fault though.
You don’t have to look far to see parental neglect and irresponsiblity. It’s everywhere!
An accident has occurred. The Roman galleries want to see blood, and lots of it.
All you'd have to do is put the accompanying baby bag in the front seat with you and, "gee, why do I have this baby bag with me--I guess it's because I have the baby too!"
Flame away, but unless people start putting parenting at the top of their list instead of somewhere down the line, this will continue to happen. I can't for the life of me think of a "routine" that would have me so preoccupied that I could forget my baby.
Maybe I have a different definition for "foul play" when it comes to the preventable death of a baby. Someone needs to be held accountable for this tragedy.
I’m with you on this. I raised four children, and have two grandchildren with a third on the way. There is no justifiable excuse for forgetting your child in your vehicle.
How would permitting the child in the front seat help?
You can see the child in the front seat! When my kids were tiny, they hadn’t yet made parents put them in the rear. My children were in the front where I could see them, and I couldn’t forget they were int he car with me.
In the back seat, you could forget you have them with you, especially if the seat faces the rear and you can’t even see their tiny faces in the rear view mirror. If the baby is asleep when you arrive, and you have forgotten them, the chances are that you will eventually forget a sleeping baby in the car.
Many innocent babies have died in the name of safety! The whole “keep the kids in the back seat” craze came about because several children were killed when airbags deployed when they were in the front seat.
Unfortunately, more children now die because they are out of sight and out of mind in the back.
For all the folks who shot from the lip without bothering to do any research, here’s some data on the socio-economic factors involved in the decision as to whether to prosecute:
“Recent studies conducted by The Associated Press and Wake Forest University family law professor Jennifer Collins reveal wide disparities in criminal prosecution of these incidents. Some of the statistics indicate sex and class bias often play a role.
“Both studies show that mothers of the children are charged more often than fathers. Collins’ 2006 study of data from 1998-2003 showed that in 130 cases, 60 percent of mothers were charged, compared with 44 percent of fathers. AP data published in July shows that mothers are often given longer jail sentences.
“I think we tend to hold mothers to a higher standard, both in life and in the criminal justice system,” Collins said.
“But family income seems to be a strong indicator of who will be charged in the deaths of children left in parked cars. Of the 51 cases where Collins could ascertain the socioeconomic status of the parents involved, only 23 percent of those who could be classified as white collar were charged, compared to 85 percent of parents who could be classified as lower income.”
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/wb/xp-131773
You’re right. Being a parent means thinking about someone besides your self all the time. He had other children at that school, so it’s not like he had no experience being responsible for a child.
As I’ve said on other threads, it takes just seconds to check the back seat to make sure no one is left in it. It should be a habit EVERY parent exercises no matter what. It’s part of the responsibility of being a parent.
You are still a troll. This thread was about a baby who died and the responsibility of parents to protect them, and you are trying to make it into a race and socio-economic thing. Go away troll.
I do think that some of these happen because a child is sleeping or quiet in the back seat and the parent forgets that he or she is still there, especially if there is a deviation from the usual routine. Also, it is easier for passers by to see a child in the front seat.
That’s strange. I didn’t see race even mentioned in that article. You still haven’t backed up your statement.
That's what I'm waiting for.
Let's look closer.
The professor studied 130 cases.
Of those 130, she could ascertain the socioeconomic status of 51 cases, or less than 40%.
She does not quantify how many of the 51 cases are poor, only that 85% of the poor cases were prosecuted.
An undisclosed fragment of 51 cases is not a very predictive sample under the best of circumstances.
And there is no quantification of another important factor: of the poor cases that were prosecuted, what percentage involved parents who had already been in trouble previously regarding child neglect or abuse.
If a parent who already had a domestic record and who was not prosecuted for leaving a child in a car were to injure another child subsequently, the public would scream bloogy murder. The prosecutor has a strong legal and professional motivation to prosecute someone who has committed a second offense.
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