Posted on 08/28/2014 9:40:36 AM PDT by Kaslin
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon charged the aunt of a 2-year-old killed by a hit-and-run driver with felony child endangerment. Loyresha Gage, 25, didn't run over her niece Mi'yana Gregory as the toddler stood alone in a crosswalk after 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 15; an unknown hit-and-run driver hit the child. Yet it is Gage who has been charged with a felony. If convicted, she faces years in prison.
I cannot be alone in my first reaction to this story. What was Gage doing taking a little girl and her twin brother to see "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" on a Friday night? Her attorney, Deputy Public Defender Kevin Mitchell, told me Gage was baby-sitting the twins at the time because that's when her sister (their mother) worked.
Gage has pleaded not guilty. Though the driver may be culpable, Mitchell told me, as far as Gage's role is concerned, it "was an accident, not a crime."
As the three left the theater, police say, Gage was on the phone chatting with a friend about getting together later that night. That would mean that she could not hold both children's hands while navigating bustling Mission Street -- a foolhardy choice. When she decided to cross the street, police say, Gage didn't hit the "walk" button. If true, another foolhardy choice. Gage crossed against the light, talking on the phone, holding the little girl's hand. When she realized her nephew was on the sidewalk, Gage, still talking on the phone, turned around to get him and left the little girl alone in the crosswalk. The oncoming cars had a green light.
That's when a late-model white sedan hit the child and kept on going. To date, authorities have identified neither the car nor the driver.
Part of me wants to rip into Gage's stupid choices; she took toddlers downtown late on a busy Friday night. She apparently didn't think that maybe she shouldn't talk on the phone while overseeing two small children who could sprint into harm's way in a blink. Then she crossed against the light with a little kid. And then there's that awful moment when Gage pivoted to get her nephew on the sidewalk and left her niece in the middle of Mission Street. What was she thinking? She probably wasn't.
Another part of me realizes that I wasn't so smart about all the things that can go wrong when I was 25. And even now, at 59, I can make a stupid move in a split second.
It's heartbreaking that Mi'yana Gregory will never have the chance to do half the stupid things I've done in my day.
Gage has no criminal convictions. She has no known history of child endangerment or neglect. Even helicopter parents sometimes make a mistake.
Would I look at this differently if a two-parent family left a kid in the crosswalk after taking their twins to the "Nutcracker" ballet on a Friday night? I probably would.
I called former San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Brown to get his take on the prosecution. "The point of the law is to put people on notice that they have to be very careful when they're handling small children in a place like San Francisco," Brown, now a doting grandfather, told me. "That doesn't sound like a public defender, does it?"
"Criminal sanctions are ways of creating a deterrent to bad behavior or to negligent behavior," Brown continued. And: "You do conform your conduct when you know the laws will be enforced."
Does Brown think Gage should be charged with a felony? No. "I think she should be charged with a misdemeanor," he said. Does he think she should go to jail? "No. Jail's not a place for her. Jail is a place for dangerous people or people who are recalcitrant in terms of their bad behavior."
That's why I think this prosecution goes too far, I told Gascon's spokesman, Alex Bastian. His reply:
"I don't want you to lose fact that a 2-year-old is dead."
Well said, and I do not. A 2-year-old boy has lost his sister, a mother her child, a father his daughter and an aunt her niece. Gage was thoughtless. And she'll have a lifetime to regret that night. That is her punishment, and it is no bargain.
I don't see the deterrent effect in putting this woman behind bars. Do parents make sure they haven't left the baby in the back seat of their cars to avoid a criminal prosecution? No. They check the back seat because they don't want to be the hapless parents who, after a moment's forgetfulness, discover in horror that they have failed to protect their child.
“Gage crossed against the light, talking on the phone, holding the little girl’s hand. When she realized her nephew was on the sidewalk, Gage, still talking on the phone, turned around to get him and left the little girl alone in the crosswalk.”
M O R O N
Most people would take better care of a puppy!
You said it
” Jail’s not a place for her. Jail is a place for dangerous people “
hmmmm. Seems she is a danger to toddlers ...
Gage’s sister was the culprit for allowing her flesh and blood to be cared for by a teenager. She took the easy path and paid for it.
Gage was watching the kids while the mother worked. Why wasn’t the father watching the kids?
Anyone familiar with two year old twins knows that no matter how closely you watch them they are bound to go in different directions. She probably should not have been talking on the phone, but I know from experience, two year olds are quick.
Why was the driver of the car not paying attention?
How tragic, this woman will never forget this accident.
Very stupid and foolish woman, however, was this a crime?
I don’t like the idea that every stupid mistake we make is a criminal act, even if something really bad happens as a result.
I find the prosecution disturbing. The sister made a bad decision to cross against the light and not hold the toddler’s hand, but that should not result in her having a felony record or doing jail time. She did not intend for this to happen. She was not drunk. She made the same very stupid mistake other of 20-somethings make, with tragic results. Our society prosecutes EVERYTHING anymore. And people more and more want to criminalize bad decisions.
In my county we had a similar situation where an infant in a stroller was killed a few years ago.
A too young mother with too many kids (5) she wasn’t mature enough to deal with. She was on her phone crossing the street at dusk with a 5 year old pushing the stroller. The light changed, the cars sitting at the corner remained stopped but the car approaching in the left turn lane didn’t. The kid pushed the stroller right into the path of the oncoming car.
Right.
I don’t understand why young women even WANT children if they are not prepared to care for them.
If they are forever looking for short cuts to child care or looking for sitters on the cheap... well, the child suffers.
If the child doesn’t suffer immediately (as in this case) then down the road when a mother finds that the various and irresponsible idiots you entrusted your child to, have forever contaminated and corrupted his/her little brain. You now have an 11 year old (or older) who is a perfect monster and you CANNOT reverse the damage!!!
OUTLAW cell phones while crossing the street just as they are outlawed while driving in many states.
Father? What father?
They’ll open their legs to make the guy happy.
The author seems to think there is a concerned father...but then again, we all know how honest journalists are.
Hey, she was on the phone. It was an important call.
“Loyresha”? “Mi’yana”?
Are those Biblical names?
Gage’s sister was the culprit for allowing her flesh and blood to be cared for by a teenager.
***
Are we now calling a 25-year-old a “teenager”?
And she makes this statement, but she does not explain it:
Would I look at this differently if a two-parent family left a kid in the crosswalk after taking their twins to the “Nutcracker” ballet on a Friday night? I probably would.
The answer is simple: these young women are
-- inexperienced, but THINK they know everything,
-- arrogant, because men have drooled over them for eons, parents and friends have REPEATEDLY told them how LUCKY they were to be so attractive
-- brought up to believe that children are EXPECTED of them as part of their female identity
-- generally, through no fault of their own, lacking in the knowledge of WHAT they want, that is, little guidance.
They DO grow up, some sooner than later, and turn into normal, emotionally balanced, contributing women, wives, mothers, aunties and grandmas.
The mixed messages were too confusing at first and most had parents who cleared up confusion.
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