Posted on 09/06/2007 7:18:13 AM PDT by Froufrou
No charges will be filed against a middle school administrator whose toddler daughter died last month when she was left in the back seat of her mother's SUV during a heat wave, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Leaving the child in the car for the work day was "a substantial lapse of due care" but did not meet the definition of reckless conduct necessary for prosecution, said Clermont County Prosecutor Don White.
Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby, 40, is assistant principal at Glen Este Middle School, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati. Authorities said she left her 2-year-old daughter, Cecilia, strapped into a car seat for about eight hours on Aug. 23 while she was at work at the school.
Temperatures outside reached about 100 degrees.
THAILAND?
It’s good to be a government knave. The government will protect her.
No doubt, she is one of the educators who wants homeschooling made illegal.
May her daughter rest in Gods arms. May that mother be kept away from my kids and other peoples kids.
Head-nodding bump.
Millee, it is amazing! Guess our emotions are getting in the way and we should show this poor mom some love!
Kids can die but Educrats Rule!
“May her daughter rest in Gods arms. May that mother be kept away from my kids and other peoples kids.”
She is being allowed to keep the 5 year old daughter.
Luckily the 5 yr. old was expected in her classroom at the school.
is the mom hot?
its relevant
see post #18 and you tell me???
So you don’t think it’s irresponsible to intentionally leave a 2-year old alone in a car for 10-15 minutes (or anywhere for that matter)? Depending on the time of day and temps, 10-15 minutes can be just as dangerous, never mind the fact that dangerous perps are out there.
p.s. great shirt on your homepage, maybe you and the poor mom can get together......
Perhaps the 5 trips to the car and moving the car refers to driving the car up the school doors, walking back and forth 5 times with boxes of donuts, and then getting in and parking the car? I haven't seen any articles explaining that.
Did she take the child into the donut shop? Two year olds are not generally rear facing, so why couldn't the mother see her? My two year olds never shut up so I can't imagine the child not saying anything in all the time mom was walking back and forth (perhaps for the donuts).
It's a horrible tragedy, no question. But I actually knew of someone who did something similar. The mother usually took the child to daycare but was sick, so dad was doing the driving. He was in his morning mode, thinking of work, driving his usual route without thought. The baby was asleep in the back, not making a sound.
It was summer in Miami. Dad parks in the parking garage and heads into his office. Around 10:00, Dad spends his coffee break as usual, thinking about his family. That's when he realized that he never took the baby to daycare. He rushed to the car, but it was too late. The child died, both parents were completely devastated, the marriage was broken.
If he had been drinking or on drugs, if he had a pattern of reckless or negligent behavior, or if the action had been intentional, punishment would definitely have been appropriate. But sometimes, humans make terrible mistakes with tragic consequences. If the laws were harsher, it wouldn't have changed a thing. The father didn't make a conscious decision to neglect his baby. I'm sure this guy would have happily spent the rest of his life in jail if it would bring his child back.
The best thing we can do as a society to prevent this kind of tragedy is to keep public awareness high -- remind people frequently of the dangers of heat in cars. There are public service announcements for seat belts and carseats and reminders not to leave pets in the car. Reminders might help.
Prison exists either to punish or to rehabilitate or to protect society, depending on your perspective. In the absence of drug or alcohol involvement, a pattern of abusive, negligent or reckless behavior, or an intentional decision to leave the child in a hot car where any reasonable person would foresee the danger, I don't see prison being appropriate in this situation. If the parent left the child in the car to avoid daycare or for their own convenience while they shopped or did errands or something, then I could see the need for punishment. But not if it was simply a horrible mistake. There's no punishment you can give a parent worse than the loss of their child. Rehabilitation is not an issue, as I highly doubt a parent would ever make that same mistake twice. Society isn't at risk of this person leaving other society members in hot cars. So why take a parent away from a family that is already grieving?
I have a feeling the Maricopa Co. prosecutor would have acted quite differently, had this occurred in his jurisdiction.
WADR, the dog was an expensive piece of government property. Basically such cases are not because they “care” about the dog, but because they care about their money’s worth.
My comments were based on the story referenced in the main post. It sounds like there is more to it....
Yep.Unequal laws. Many parents are afraid to yell at their kids and many more parents are afraid of spanking their kids ,but that lady will be allowed to keep her child.
That puts a completely different light on the subject.
Maybe because she went back to the care FIVE times and never noticed her dying/dead child?
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