Posted on 07/19/2005 9:34:10 AM PDT by AbeKrieger
CAMDEN, N.J. Three boys who suffocated in a car trunk last month were alive for at least 17 hours, slowly succumbing while police searched their neighborhood, a lawyer for the family of one of the boys says. Lawyer Peter M. Villari told The New York Times that officials of the Camden County prosecutor's office went over details of an autopsy report with him, the newspaper reported Tuesday. The boys, ages 5, 6 and 11, disappeared from the yard where they were playing a little after 5 p.m. on June 22. Their deaths were ruled accidental. Relatives searched for the boys for three hours and then called authorities. A two-day search that included dogs, helicopters and boats on the nearby Delaware River ended when the father of one of the boys found them dead in the trunk of an inoperable car sitting just feet from where they had been playing. The autopsy report, which has not been released publicly, found that the boys died between 10:30 a.m. on June 23 and 2:30 a.m. on June 24, Villari said. That estimate was based on fluid and tissue samples and weather data, he said. Villari told the newspaper that responsibility for the deaths is now "squarely on the shoulders of the police." "I think the numbers speak for themselves," he said. "They were certainly alive when the police arrived and certainly well after the search started." Villari did no immediately return a call seeking additional comment Tuesday. The prosecutors' office had no immediate comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
We have already come to the conclusion that it is impossible for cops to search the trunk of a car witout having x-ray vision or ESP. "
Really. Because I can do it, I use a key, that I get from whoever owns the car. I opne the trunk, AND I THEN LEAVE IT OPEN. No super powers needed.
They were probably talking to the mother as they all stood next to the car. It was in front of the house.
If the mother and everybody in the neighborhood missed them, why is it the cops' fault?
Oh, I didn't know this - that's a good thing, though that car was an older model.
Hopefully no nearby car trunk would ever be overlooked again after these awful deaths.
Are you aware that the police searched the vehicle?
Shazzam!
(not so hard is is AK)
Since they are paid professionals, they are held to a higher standard than the general public.
If a cop was told to search the car and failed to search the trunk, then I think this is terrible negligence on his part-was this a stated fact of this case?
It could be negligence by ommission, if it's deemed a reasonable search by LE would've looked in that trunk....
I do think the insurance carrier for Camden will be looking to settle this case.
Are you aware that it was unlocked and ANYONE could have searched it?
I am not casting blame solely on the police. The parents should have thought to search the immediate area as well, including every nook and cranny they could get to. My point is that once the police began conducting a search, they should have re-traced every nook and cranny the parents had already searched. That they overlooked the trunk indicates someone was not doing a very good job.
If the officer who was given the task of searching the car, couldn't get into the trunk, it should have been reported.
What was the response from his superior?
There should be a trail of evidence.
Well of course.
When don't they?
ANYONE including the police.
So as soon as a parent reports a missing child, the police are to drop everything else and look for that child until he/she is found?
I can't imagine LE in Camden is not sick about the outcome of this case.....
How horrible....just awful!!! Sickens' me. Poor babies.
Those Camden cops were total idiots, not to look in the trunk when they walked all around the car.
Including the MOMMY with the junk death trap car in her front yard.
So your contention is that when a missing child call is made, the police are to drop everything else until they find the child?
Okay, the police are not at fault for this. They were busy with other stuff. Sheesh.
you missed my point - the families have a very good case.
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