Toddler Dies After Hooters Mom Forgets Child in Hot Car

Fox News ^ | October 31, 2007

[rawhide]

PHOENIX — The mother of a 17-month-old boy found dead after he was left unattended inside a hot car for at least seven hours in a north Phoenix Hooters restaurant was arrested on one felony count of negligent homicide.

Police say the woman, Ashly Duchene, 22, left her son in her car when she arrived at the north Phoenix Hooters restaurant where she works at about 10 a.m. Tuesday. When she returned to the car after her shift at nearly 5 p.m., her son was dead.

Efforts to revive the boy by witnesses, officers and firefighters were unsuccessful. Police Sgt. Joel Tranter said temperatures hit nearly 90 degrees Tuesday, but that it would have been more than 100 degrees inside the car.

FOX 10 Phoenix reports the baby's mother had planned to drop the child off at childcare before heading to work at a restaurant near Bell Road and Interstate 17.

Instead, authorities say the mother went to work with the child still inside the car.

{clip}

The baby was in a car seat in the backseat of a Honda Civic, which had very dark tinted windows. Officials believe that made him unnoticable to people going in and out of the restaurant and a car wash next door, the Republic reported.

It's unknown if the mother will face any charges in the child's death. Tranter said situations like this are handled "on a case-by-case basis."

So far, there have been no arrests.

[pandoraou812]

Me either but its happened in the town next to me twice in the past 10 yrs. Charges were never brought against the parents. Things were different when we were parents I guess. I don’t know how you can forget a child. I guess I was way too protective of my children . Plus the fact I had 5 of them looking out for each other helped. It was quite common when I was a child for my parents to leave me sleeping in the car when I was little but never in very hot or cold weather. Prayers for the baby. ~P~

[TKDietz]

Abortions don’t tend to be accidental though.

[TheDon]

I consider these deaths as post-birth abortions unless proven otherwise.

[TKDietz]

“I consider these deaths as post-birth abortions unless proven otherwise.”

Guilty until proven innocent? You might want to share your thoughts on this sort of thing with the lawyers next time you get called for jury duty. You’ll get to go home early.

[TKDietz]

If those were Hooters girls in your town the likelihood they would have been charged would have been much greater.

[BlueMondaySkipper]

I don't know about this particular situation, but I can TOTALLY understand forgetting your child in thier car seat.

When my daughters were young we had them in daycare and my wife and I split the drop-off and pick-up duties as our schedules allowed. Driving to the daycare (or anywhere for that matter) becomes a routine, but if that routine get's interupted for some reason bad things can happen.

For example, one day, about a block from the street I would take to go to and from the daycare, a woman stepped out from between two parrellel-parked cars, causing me to hit my brakes. No big deal, but I got distracted and missed the turn and continued on my way. As I pulled into my office parking lot, I realized my youngest was still with me. No harm done, but it could have easily ended badly.

All of the jerks here (you know who you are) who think this sort of thing can only happen to someone who is negligent can go pound sand.

[pandoraou812]

Actually the parents of the 2 children who died were both of the Orthodox Jewish faith. There was a big to do over that. Many felt that they got special treatment. The man forgot to drop the infant off at daycare & went on to work. In the other case the baby was 6 weeks old & the mother dropped the 2 toddlers off at daycare, went shopping & just forgot about the infant. I feel bad for the parents as they have to live with this for the rest of their lives.

[pandoraou812]

Its very sad to see people acting like this. Mean people usually are very unhappy people too.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Sorry, I missed the part about daycare.

[trumandogz]

Around 15 years ago when Hooter’s was sued for sexual discrimination their defense was “Our product is not out food. Our product are the girls who serve the food.”

Obviously the suit was bogus but Hooter’s admits that the product are their female employees. I doubt that any person has been hired as a Hooter’s waitress because of their intellectual aptitude.

However, anyone who leaves their baby in a car to bake to death is a moron.

[trumandogz]

No, anyone who leaves their kid in the car to bake and die is a moron, no matter where they work.

However, I have never seen an article posted where a brain surgeon left their baby in a car to die.

[TigersEye]

Don’t sweat it. ; )

[TheDon]

Oh my! Not from a legal point of view, just from my court of public opinion point of view.

You have a good point on the getting out of jury duty part.

[Sloth]

However, I have never seen an article posted where a brain surgeon left their baby in a car to die.

Here's a pediatrician: http://ggweather.com/heat/23_2007.htm

[pandoraou812]

I don’t lmao. There are always morons around....Shaking my head.

[He Rides A White Horse]

I don’t think this was an accident either.

[He Rides A White Horse]

She’ll probably go for a post-partum defense, with Planned Parenthood subsequently pinning a medal on her.

[TKDietz]

I know a neurologist absentminded enough to do it. Of course he never took his kids to daycare though or ever had to handle any type of mundane task like that. He always had others doing that sort of thing for him, running all his errands for him, making sure he was where he needed to go, etc. I’m a lawyer with plenty of schooling and I’ve forgotten to drop my youngest off at daycare before. I got all the way to work and if I didn't€™t have to get something out of my backseat I might not have noticed she was still asleep in her child safety seat. I have to admit once I forgot to take her to daycare when she was a little older, left her at home. I thought my wife had taken her and my wife thought I knew I was supposed to take her. When my daughter woke up and realized she was home alone she was able to call my wife at work by hitting a speed dial button and of course I was in big trouble. We rush and rush around in life in this day and age and sometimes some of us are going to slip up and forget things, especially those of us who are just naturally absentminded. Unfortunately every once in a while when someone slips up and forgets something there are going to be horrible consequences. I could see how someone could forget their child was in a baby seat in the back of a car, especially one of those rear facing baby seats they recommend these days. I haven’t read about a brain surgeon doing it, but it could happen to anyone. I know I’ve read about a teacher and a social worker doing it.