Posted on 06/29/2006 8:59:40 AM PDT by charming_harmonica
A 5-month-old baby died in a minivan Wednesday after the mother apparently forgot to drop the child off at day care.
The tragedy was discovered about 5:30 p.m. outside the Wonder Years 2 day care. The baby's mother stopped at the day care after work to pick up the child and was told by staff that the baby had not been dropped off. She realized then that the baby had been in her minivan all day.
"The mother had forgotten to drop off the child at day care in the morning," said Curt Kreun, owner of Wonder Years 2. "She actually came in the building to pick up the child and then realized what had happened."
The child was in a car seat in the back of the vehicle, according to Sgt. Jeff Burgess of the Grand Forks Police Department. A Wonder Years 2 staff member made the 911 call, according to Kreun.
Staff members had taken the baby out of the van and started CPR before the ambulance arrived. Kreun said he reached the scene about 6 p.m. and emergency personnel already had gotten the word from Altru to cease resuscitation.
"The child had probably passed away a while before she got to the day care," Kreun said.
Kreun, who has been in the child care business for years, said near-tragedies happen all too often.
"I know people who have gotten to work and realized they forgot to drop off their kids and had to go back."
Kreun said it would have been impossible for passersby to see the baby in the van, which had tinted windows.
"I walked around that van about 14 times after they left, and you would not have been able to see in there," he said.
The incident is under investigation by the Criminal Investigation Bureau, but police told Kreun they didn't expect charges to be filed.
"They're looking at it as a tragic accident," he said. "This is by far the most devastating thing I've had to witness."
"There are no arrests being made tonight," said Burgess. "I can tell you that."
The cause of death had not yet been confirmed Wednesday night, but a likely cause of death in cases where children are left in hot vehicles is hyperthermia.
The temperature in a parked car rises very rapidly, even when the windows are left open a crack. Studies show that the temperature can rise as much as 50 degrees in an hour.
Wednesday's high was 79 degrees, so the temperature in the van easily could have exceeded 100 degrees.
When you have multiple kids, then one of them has to go in the back. It's not a big deal to have a kid in the back. You can place mirrors in the car to see the kids.
A few years back, I had 3 kids under 3, two of which were babies.
Those little seatbelts on the baby seats (that are part of the baby seat) could be programmed to honk the horn repeatedly if the seatbelt is engaged with the engine off longer than, say, 5 minutes (need to have time to get the baby out of the car after one parks).
The pregnancy after rape scenario happens very rarely. As for the other scenarios, they are consequences of choices that were made (and in the widow's case, she wouldn't have to work if she & the Mr. had made better life insurance choices while he was alive since they knew they had children).
Women need to take things like this into consideration before they make the choice to make children or get into situations where they might be made.
Ear infections are not communicable. They arise mainly due to the structure of the person's ear canal. Different kids, different ear canals. I had one kids who had ear infections, too, and one who never had one. It has nothing to do with daycare, because both of my kids went to daycare. Ear infections are not contagious.
you mean, why hasn't the state made laws against this? they're trying to in MI. any child left in any vehicle, for any amount of time, whether or not harm is caused would be prosecuted. but, like many other laws, if someone is going to do something like leave their child in the car for an hour, they will do it no matter what the law is.
problem does not lie in the legislature, but in the prosecuters office.
besides, if there's a law that says there will be a fine if a child is left in the vehicle, it will make it that much easier to plea bargain down.
I'm working on that now. It's based on a pressure sensitive switch. If there is more than 3 lbs of pressure on the car seat fifteen seconds after the engine is turned off, the alarm will sound. Still some bugs, but I will have it worked out soon.
She didn't forget that she was responsible for her baby's care.
She forgot to stop at the day care center.
She didn't do it purposely.
That makes it accidental.
Since they already have the alarms that ping until until a seatbelt is fastend, it seems easy enough to have an after-market device that would ping if the baby's carseat belt was not unfastened.
Agreed. Simple and inexpensive.
"Hypothetical situation: The mother of the forgotten child is a widow or a rape victim who kept the child or, God forbid, an unmarried mom. She must work to support the child. What are such women to do? They exist by the thousands. What, in your view, should such women in this situation to do? How are they going to stay home?"
Obviously in that situation the woman must work to provide for herself and her child. The alternative is starvation, or welfare.
That's why you learn to disconnect the airbags.
On Dodge's, you just pull the fuse.
The son of the man who invented GPS is FReeper. If you would invent something like this it would be a wonderful addition to the "Inventors who made a difference" hall of fame!
"the Pharisees here at F.R"
You've noticed them too, huh?
This woman will suffer from this the rest of her life.
But for the grace of g-d, that could have been any parent I know.
my jeep has a weight sensor. most vehicles that have passenger airbags have some sort of disconnect for them. switch, key, weight, or fuse.
there was also the deal for a while that they claimed that shoulder harnesses wouldn't fit a child right and would cause injury. oops. vehicles now have shoulder harnesses front and rear.
It must be wonderful to be totally perfect. DO tell us how you do it - or were you just born that way? :)
I am a business traveller and therefore rent a lot of different cars. Well, one time I had this alarm going off inside the card and I couldn't figure it out. Eventually, I figured out that my bag was in the passenger seat and the car thought it was a person and needed a seatbelt!
I am sure something like that would work for kids in the back.
It seems that this situation started when parents were required to put babies in the back seat. I don't recall hearing about this when baby car seats were allowed in the front.
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