Jailing parents after tragedy tough call - Baby died after being left in hot car in Texas

The Dallas Morning News ^ | July 11, 2002 | By CURTIS HOWELL / The Dallas Morning News

[ladyrustic]

Remember that guy a couple years back with two little children? He put the infant (who was strapped into a carseat) on the roof of his vehicle while he strapped the toddler into the car. Then the guy got in and drove away, completely forgetting the infant on the roof.

Other drivers saw this car with the baby seat on the roof and thought maybe it was a doll they saw strapped into the seat.

He was doing sixty on the highway when he heard a scraping sound and he remembered the baby was still on the roof.

The carseat with the baby in it slid off the roof and onto the highway at sixty mph, tumbling along to a stop.

By some miracle, the baby was OK. The man was a basket case.

These horrible things happen sometimes, which doesn't make them any easier to take. I like what the police said about using discretion in such cases to determine which incidents were due to abuse or neglect, and which were unfortunate accidents...

[TxBec]

I'll come clean. I had an incident where my son was accidentally locked in a car (I had parked, got out, and gone around to the other side to get him, only to realize all the doors were locked.) That said, I too was a basket case and we were very lucky that day. (It was winter and he was only locked in for about 10 minutes.) Having eaten crow now, I will sit down now and shut up.

[xsmommy]

no need, tx. i agree that to go an entire work day or even to get OUT of the car without noticing the baby is unbelievable. as to your situation, my babysitter had the same thing happen as she was about to leave my house and i immediately called 911 and the fire dept broke the window of the car for her.

[429CJ]

About a year or 2 ago a strange thing happened here in Tulsa. A woman took her infant daughter out to her van. Then she remembered something that she forgot in her house.
When she tried to get back in the house, she found that she had locked herself out of the house. She had some extra van keys so she drove downtown to where her husband worked to get extra house keys.

She locked the van and ran into the building where her husband worked to get the keys. She was only in there a few minutes and when she returned to her van she saw that her baby was not in the van.

She became hysterical and passersby came to comfort her (There was a picture in the Tulsa World of a woman with her arm around her).

The police immediately closed off downtown streets and began a search for the baby. Then an officer wondered why the kidnapper would lock the van after taking the baby.

He got the woman's address and drove 15 miles to the woman's home and found the baby in the baby seat on the ground next to the driveway where the mother had placed it after remembering that she had to get something else in the house.

I always wondered how stupid the mother felt especially after being on the front page looking hysterical.

[elcaudillo]

I wonder what Mr. Rueda had to say about the death of his son?

Perhaps there isn't a Mr. Rueda.

[FITZ]

I am in such a habit of getting my kids out of their carseats that I have found myself opening the back door of my car even when they aren't with me.

Putting kids in carseats in the backseats is part of the problem. A 3 year old could escape a hot locked car if he weren't tied up in a carseat, an infant is at high risk in the backseat strapped down because they fall asleep and can be forgotten. A small infant in a carseat should be placed in the front seat next to the parent.

[PLOM...NOT!]

I read an article yesterday about not getting enough sleep, stating you may as well be under the influence. Having had a baby who didn't sleep through the night, I can safely say, that your mind is just not completely "there" everyday. Fortunately, and by God's grace, my children survived intact, when my brain was running on empty.

I can see how this woman could have done this without malicious intent.

[TxBec]

I can relate. I guess I forget now that I have teens how zombie-like I was when they were little.

[TxBec]

err. I mean a teen and a tween.

[strela]

I can certainly tell you one thing; if we as a society consider punishing criminally negligent parents who allow their children to cook like a holiday roast to be a "tough call," then we will certainly be hearing about more of these cases. Yeah right, pat their hand and cluck "We know you didn't mean to do it."

Part of the purpose of punishment is to deter others from the misbehavior that brought on the punishment in the first place. And maybe if a few of these addled parents were taught on a daily basis that leaving Junior in the SUV on a hot day might get them some serious up-close-and-personal time with Bubba, there wouldn't be so many infants left lying around in vehicles like so many forgotten sacks of groceries.

[splach78]

I'm not even going to get into a technical discussion about car seat safety with you, but children run more of a risk from dying in an accident if they are not properly restrained then if some dumbass parent "forgets" their child in a car. If you need a visual of a child to be reminded that they are there, then you aren't a responsible parent, and shouldn't have children.

[smith288]

Are you telling me you are so absent minded you cant remember that there is a kid in your car unless they are up front where you have a physical visual?

Im sorry but a parent who "forgets" a kid is in the car is plain incompetent. If you do this (put them up front to make sure you wont forget), then I label you as such.

[A. Pole]

Part of the purpose of punishment is to deter others from the misbehavior that brought on the punishment in the first place. And maybe if a few of these addled parents were taught on a daily basis that leaving Junior in the SUV on a hot day might get them some serious up-close-and-personal time with Bubba, there wouldn't be so many infants left lying around in vehicles like so many forgotten sacks of groceries.

I think that the death of a child is a sufficient deterent. But still some people will make a mistake, be distracted or absentminded. Things happen.

You are missing the main purpose of demand for the harsh punishments - it gives some people sick pleasure.

In all their lamentations soundeth vengeance, in all their eulogies is maleficence; and being judge seemeth to them bliss.

But thus do I counsel you, my friends: distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!

They are people of bad race and lineage; out of their countenances peer the hangman and the sleuth-hound.

Distrust all those who talk much of their justice! Verily, in their souls not only honey is lacking.

And when they call themselves "the good and just," forget not, that for them to be Pharisees, nothing is lacking but--power!
(Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra chapter XXIX - The Tarantulas)

[FITZ]

An infant should be in a car seat next to a parent. There could be an adult sitting in the back with them but if there's one adult then the infant shouldn't be alone. I also think people shouldn't roll their windows up completely. A car with it's windows half down isn't going to kill kids so quickly if they are somehow left in the car. I remember my parents running into the store and we'd didn't want to go in but the windows were left down and we weren't tied up.

[splach78]

But an infant should never be in the front seat. Period.

[MissAmericanPie]

I know we live in a high pressure world, and some ding bats are always unorganized and running late to work, their minds scattered in 100 different directions, but good grief how will she ever forgive herself for this kind of stupidity?

I am guessing that the baby was in a carrier/car seat that was in the back seat of the car and she just hopped out and never looked back. Then the baby never crossed her mind for four hours or so until lunch time. This is tragic, I don't have the answer as to what should happen to her, it's beyond me. I would think some jail time is in order here, she can grieve in jail just as good as anywhere else and a message needs to be sent regarding people remembering what their top priorities should be.

[FITZ]

I never tied my infants up alone in the back seat, I read too many articles like this, maybe I wouldn't have forgotten them but I wanted to make sure. I never rolled the windows up completely either. A car with rolled up windows in 105 degree weather can kill someone within minutes.

[FITZ]

I don't think an infant should be alone out of a parent or caregiver's sight ever. What if they started choking or were in some kind of distress and all alone in the back seat?

[smith288]

An accident where your kid is up in the front seat has proven to kill a kid instantly. The chances of you getting in a wreck is better than you leaving them in a car isnt it? I know it is for me.

[smith288]

How would they be choking? On their own tongue?