Posted on 08/13/2013 12:24:06 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
This is that time of year where we, and other news outlets, remind you of the fatal consequences that occur when you leave your kids or pets in hot cars. But two Ohio parents now face charges after their baby died during a hot drive through Oklahoma.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that husband and wife Angela Randolph, 26, and Christopher Randolph, 28, now face charges of child neglect after their 23-day-old daughter died in the back of a car running without air conditioning on a hot day.
The newspaper says the parents were driving in a car packed with their belongings, no working A/C and only one window rolled down from Ohio to Oklahoma last week.
When they stopped at a convenience store in Ardmore, Oklahoma just north of the Texas border, they noticed their baby daughter Hannah wasn't breathing in the back seat. At a 911 dispatcher's urging they tried CPR, but the girl was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a hospital.
Authorities say they believe the girl died of heat exposure from the hot car — that day, temperatures were hovering around 100 degrees, the newspaper reports. The Randolphs were arrested a few days later and charged with child neglect. Sadly, they were just 30 miles away from their destination in Ringling, Oklahoma, where they planned to start a new life with family.
It's a sad and horrible case for sure, and it's an odd twist on the usual situation where the baby is left in the hot car. It just goes to show that an improperly-cooled moving car is just as bad as one left sitting in the sun.
We'll have to see how a jury handles this one.
On the other hand, for a species to survive, survival of the fittest has to be in place. Someone on this thread mentioned that the law demands an infant be in a child safety seat in back. Would the child have been alive in her mother's lap? Probably.
These aren't crimes. There's a real danger here of all of these situations where the results of stupidity are defined as criminal acts. This keeps up, and a majority of the population will be in jail.
“...They stopped once an hour. They kept coolers full of drinks.”
Ha! ...not in my family. Stops only occurred when a fill up (gas) was needed. My dad was without mercy and bound and determined to get to our destinations in record time...bladders be damned.
Heh, I remember when the original Gatorade first hit the grocery store shelves. It was a better thirst-quencher than soda - and it had that handy wide-mouth bottle for later.
You’re from Texas. You should know better than most that it can easily get to 120 degrees out there on that highway. And an open window will not help cool the car.
But I don’t think you know that a 23 day old baby has not yet developed a tolerance to extreme heat. Even a healthy infant will be dead in no time if placed in a car like that.
>>The baby is dead because they are stupid and negligent. <<
Stupidity is not a crime. If it was we couldn’t build jails fast enough to house them.
“When SHTF we are going to have to learn and adapt very fast”
I have to adapt “very fast” when a hurricane comes through and there is no power for days in extreme heat. I have water bottles with fans on them, spray the water with the fan on and the ambient temperature around me drops 20 points. Also have battery fans to be able to sleep fairly well at night.
Without those two types of cooling, I would have been miserable after Ike. It just takes a little planning to adapt to changes. When it actually happens is not the time to begin to think about it.
Same. I rode cross country as a kid. In a camper. Windows rolled down. Never had any issues.
“Drinking real coke, at ambient temperature, from a real bottle then having to use said bottle to relieve oneself.”
That took more skill than I had as a female. :-)
Open the windows.
You are not the first to post a theory that the child died while the car was stopped and the parents were doing ....
But that has been disproven.
The baby - wasn’t even a baby - it was an infant. Only 23 days old. The poor thing had no chance to survive based on the long distances the parents were driving without stopping.
Thank you. I’ve been trying to get that point accross to people who can’t/won’t believe a 23 day old could actually die under those circumstances.
The parents should be tried for neglect.
Yes it would and I'm an expert on the subject.
Yes it will.
That's exactly what's happening.
At the very least an open window will let the inside down get close to ambient temps.
With the windows up, you get solar heating for sure, and significant if the interior is dark colored.
In fairness, if people drove around every day with $10 million in the back seat, it would become routine and they'd probably forget that, too.
Driving from TX to CA, people timed to cross the desert at night.
The parents should be tried for neglect.
_______________________
I totally disagree.
Intellegent, educated advanced degreed people end up in the ER with overdressed children as well as ignorant and stupid ones.
This was an accident. Why would you want to tear them up even more that the death of the beloved child already has. What are you? Some sort of vindictive monster?
“You forgot to mention perspiring and sticking to the hot vinyl seats with the others griping about bodies overlapping each other ( two of the 4 had long legs).”
If those vinyl seats weren’t hot enough, they also had decorative metal buttons that warmed up in the sun like miniature branding irons. Woe to those that didn’t wear a shirt.
Small children, especially infants, dehydrate much faster than adults. The parents should have been checking on the baby and feeding her and giving her water often enough so this couldn't happen. It's hard for me to believe the baby wasn't crying, too. Yes, they sometimes cry because they are cranky, but most of the time in my experience they need something, like food, diaper, etc.
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