Posted on 05/04/2007 9:43:22 AM PDT by bedolido
NEW YORK — A young mother's car left out of gear accidentally rolled over her only son and killed him, a year after her soldier husband was killed in Iraq, relatives and police said.
"It's a tragedy for all my family," said Evelyn Mercedes, 65, the soldier's grandmother. "My grandson dies. Now, this happens to the baby."
Christopher Mercedes, who turned 1 last month, slipped from his mom's arms as she got out of the sport utility vehicle that began rolling because it was in neutral gear rather than park, police said.
"She was hysterical, crying out, 'Somebody help me _ he's all I have,'" said neighbor Olga Rodriguez.
Witnesses, including an off-duty firefighter, said they tried unsuccessfully to revive the boy.
"The child wasn't breathing," said the firefighter, Luis Cruz. "I began rescue breaths. I lost the pulse."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Have you never held a squirming one year old?
I grieve for this mother who has lost a husband and son.
It doesn’t add up in my mind. I tend to think the car would have rolled long before she had a chance to get the child out of the car seat. I hope I’m wrong.
I've never dropped her.
And, like any responsible parent, I hold her tighter when I'm around cars, machinery and staircases.
Well - you should get out more.
Good grief.
I don’t understand something. If the car was in neutral and was in a position that caused it to roll, how come it wasn’t rolling while she was taking him out of the car? I know with my van, the very few times I have had it neutral, I knew before I got out. Besides, I can’t take my keys out of the ignition if the van isn’t in park. They won’t come out.
Exactly.
“I don’t see anything in this article that implies...”
I don’t either. Let’s show a little FR compassion here and leave the fault-finding, if there is fault to be found, to the authorities. Jeez, people. This is a heartbreaking story.
Excellent question.
Besides, I can’t take my keys out of the ignition if the van isn’t in park. They won’t come out.
Excellent point.
A meaningless comment.
Presumably in your extensive outings you frequently encounter people who drop kids under rolling cars?
Compassion should be focused primarily on the poor little child who lost his life.
I used to think that the worst types these kinds of stories drug out were those that used them as opportunities to trumpet, loud and long, their uber parenting skills. Stupid me forgot the conspiracy theorists looking to satisfy their appetite for ... well... conspiracies.
the tragedy to this family is horrific. If there are no other siblings, the birth line of this family has been stopped.
No more from this family forever... I pray this is not the case.
The article implies, but does not say if the child was in a car seat.
Depending on the vehicle and its age, the woman may have thought that the transmission was in park. The linkages on old automatic transmissions can get sloppy and not fully engage, or partially engage and slip out.
It may be that she was removing the child (from a child seat) and once the child was in her arms the trans slipped out of park and began rolling back. The child may have been dropped as she tried to stop the car from rolling or was struck by the open car door as it rolled back, or both. We don't know and the article did not say.
The facts as reported do not support your statements. You may want to reserve judgement till more is known. the woman deserves the benefit of the doubt.
wow. speechless. It doesn’t get any worse than that.
“Besides, I can’t take my keys out of the ignition if the van isn’t in park. They won’t come out.”
Not the case for a manual transmission.
Prayers sent, RIP little one.
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