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.
“Someone who KNOWS the kid is in there and is checking on her. I bet the stupid **** noticed the kid but didn’t want to miss work taking her back to the sitter.
I’m going to say it... this is MURDER.”
If that is how it happened.
I guess no one knows until they view the tape.
I don't know about you, but don't you even feel someone's presence around you even if you don't see them? Especially in a small environment like a car. Especially your own child. I don't know her motives, heart, or mind, but this just doesn't add up for me.
“I don’t know about you, but don’t you even feel someone’s presence around you even if you don’t see them? Especially in a small environment like a car. Especially your own child. I don’t know her motives, heart, or mind, but this just doesn’t add up for me.”
You are right it doesn’t add up.
I am a very forgetful person. I’m the one who puts the purse on top of the car and then drives off.
Everyday I do at least one major search for my car keys that I VOW I will always put in the same place.
When I had children, my parents were very paranoid I would do something stupid like this.
They would half-joke with me...”don’t put the baby down on the driveweway to open the door and then drive off!”
I know what it is like to smack myself in the head and call myself an idiot.
I do find it very hard to believe a forward facing 2 yr. old can escape notice after 5 return trips to the car.
It is more believable if your mind is busy unloading stuff (like doughnuts).
I’m so proud of you for not forgetting your children anywhere. Neither have I. If, heaven forbid, you were to have made an awful mistake, though, I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be hung for it.
You must be a bitter person. I’m sure glad I’m not like you.
No.
Where did I imply that???
Maybe some reading lessons are in order.
So you are suggesting she intentionally killed her daughter?
What about parents who accidentally kill their children by rolling over them in their garage? Or losing track of them as the child drowns in the swimming pool or runs into the road? Or letting the child climb on a chair and fall off, hitting his head and dying two days later?
Should they all be punished too?
An accident is an accident. If she intentionally left her kid in a car, that’s one thing, but if unintentional then how can she get punished?
We, in America, shall all be judged by the blood of those innocent little ones and God will demand satisfaction.
If I cooked my child to death yes I would want to be hung for it.
As to a better person I think you indeed should work on that.
Your very active defense of this "accident".
Maybe some reading lessons are in order.
Indeed. Perhaps you can get said lessons at your local library.
Chanti, your points make sense. I feel badly for that man.
I’d like to know if any of you saw the video of her being questioned. She spoke of ‘doing everything for everyone’ and how ‘good mothers don’t do this.’ I thought I saw, and my husband verified, that she looked at the camera at one point. Quite the actress.
And, without a doubt, this WAS a pattern for her, leaving the child in the car. And that’s just wrong.
Ruling out heart attacks, strokes, or some variety of mental incapacitation, we all must admit that there was some level of negligence in this mother's actions. Therefore, we all must admit that there's some level of individual responsibility for that negligence.
I'm no lawyer, so I can't comment on what makes something rise to the level of criminal negligence. I suspect it's nothing more than being able to prove the facts more often than not. In this case, the prosecutor says he can't make a court case stick. I believe him. He surely hasn't endeared his community, those who vote for him, by this. They're up in arms to see the lady prosecuted. It would be the politically wise thing for him to do. But he isn't. He says it's cause he can't prove the case in court. I believe him.
Notice that he's not saying she is innocent. This is why her employer, the local school board, is meeting to decide if she should be fired. The logic presented in the media is that such negligence with her own child disqualifies her from being granted responsibility for the live of other folks' children. My guess is that the lawyer for the school board will advise that, since the prosecutor can't prove the case, and since she has no record, that firing her will make the board liable for a suit.
Does she walk away free from this negligence?
Probably. She can never walk away from personal responsibility, though. I expect it will end her marriage, eventually. I expect she'll have to leave her job because of ostracism. I expect she'll hate herself to the point her living life becomes a dead thing. I'll not be surprised if she kills herself.
How in the world can Christ ever forgive such a thing? That's her only hope -- a sincere, real, non-phony encounter with the Lord -- so far as I'm concerned.
On a side note, I do believe the possibility of these kinds of deaths are enhanced by laws that prevent car seats in the front seat, and by the fatigued family syndrome.
I agree. Patterns of ordinary negligence elevate it to criminal negligence.
You nailed it.
Dude, are your glasses broken???
How about rolling over a child in your garage? Letting your child drown in a swimming pool? Do these merit hanging as well?
No, I’m not defensive about this incident. I’m irritated by the complete lack of sympathy for somebody who is already suffering horribly for her mistake.
If it turns out that she intentionally left her baby in the car, then I could understand. But does anybody really believe that? Its more likely that people think that the baby’s suffering and death must be avenged, regardless of whether or not it was a mistake or an intentional (or intentionally reckless) act.
Of course I wouldn’t. Nor would I intentionally put my kids in harms way. And that’s the point here.
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