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.
Hey Suzy, I know! There was something very telling about the ‘performance’ on camera, did you see it? I can’t imagine going to the car 5 times and moving it and not seeing the baby!
If you can’t take the time and energy to get your child out of a car seat, you should find a sitter, ask a neighbor, ask your mom, etc. to watch that baby.
NEVER should a toddler be left in a car. Cars are stolen, slip and falls happen, or a hundred other things.
Sorry, inconvenience is no excuse for neglect.
Interesting point.
A DUI person SHOULD be de-licensed. Of course, that won’t stop a non-licensed person from driving.
There are no licenses for mothers.
And then, drinking is BLATANTLY putting yourself in a bad position to do ANYthing, much less “be safe”. The mother didn’t put herself in any specific “bad position”.
I don’t like what happened any more than you, but it’s still an accident with some “precedent” for idiocy, but still, even that is nebulous. Lots of people do this kind of thing, but never get in trouble for it - so are you suggesting such people with a “history” should somehow get in official trouble? For leaving a kid for a bit? For being forgetful? Should their children be left alone knowing a mother is in jail just because she forgot this or that a few times?
Frankly, I still get MORE mad about the accidental killings of kids such as those at the Foxwoods casino years ago when I lived near there - because the parents BLATANTLY left the child in the car so they could have fun gambling.
THOSE people didn’t want to kill the toddler, but they WERE blatantly negligent.
Sorry, but it’s a plain fact that that kind of thing is going to go UP when Gov makes it more difficult to have a baby/toddler.
That is the bottom line. Period.
Being judgemental about those people is 1 thing, but it doesn’t erase the fact that it’s just plain going to happen more. And more rules isn’t going to stop people from forgetting.
I agree with you. But I guarantee you more toddlers are killed by parents driving too fast or carelessly, than by being left in cars. I’d even venture to say that sitting in a moving car with a mother applying lipstick or blabbing on a cell is more dangerous than sitting in a parked car on a day that is not too hot or cold.
The woman was given a warning about leaving her baby in the car.
She continued to leave her baby in the car. This is not the first time.
Perhaps taking the attitude of “Oh well, a baby died but it’s the government’s fault.” will exaserbate it.
People on this thread have talked about habits. Long after my children were out of carseats, when I turned that car off I was reaching for the carseat lock. But my kids are a high priority for me.
Society has made them low priority.
>> I’d even venture to say that sitting in a moving car with a mother applying lipstick or blabbing on a cell is more dangerous than sitting in a parked car on a day that is not too hot or cold.<<
Holy crap! Ya got that right!!!!
(really, I would have tons of sympathy for this woman if it wasn’t a habit to leave her baby in the car)
Why do I get the sense that, for you and some others here, this is more about tooting your own horn about your parenting skills, than it is about the issue at hand?
After all, the more we dwell on the miscues of others, the better we look, huh?
>>Why do I get the sense that, for you and some others here, this is more about tooting your own horn about your parenting skills, than it is about the issue at hand?
After all, the more we dwell on the miscues of others, the better we look, huh?<<
LOL!
I am an annoymous poster on a forum. Who even knows me? Why would it make this person sitting at a keyboard look better? To who? As my hubby calls people on forums, “Imaginary friends”?
That’s easy...it makes yourself look better TO YOU! It makes you feel better about yourself.
I look perfectly okay to myself, my children and my husband. No one else really matters, now do they?
See it as you like, it really doesn’t matter to me at all.
Doesn’t matter to me whether it matters to you; I was just making an observation.
True, but she left her for a short time each time. I want to know what should be done just for those warnings where nothing ultimately happened. Do you take the mother/father away from the children, throw them in jail, and send the kids to foster homes?
And in any case, initially, this wasn’t a discussion about people who did it repeatedly. As usual, people were bashing her just for doing it this once - not knowing she’s “done it before”. This is typical on FR - outrage that someone who’s never done it before that we know of is “let to walk” on an accident. But what is the alternative?
It’s a good idea to make habits like that. Maybe people when they start such things should write down on a post-it what actions they should take. Then use it to learn new habits.
Of course, this woman’s problem started when she forgot to take the girl to the sitter - not because she forgot to unstrap her. Still, a post-it about her NORMAL operations might have helped her stay in the groove.
Lots of criminal charges require intent and plenty, like manslaughter, do not.
Personally, with the big push for counciling, I would have liked to have seen this woman ticketed for child endangerment the FIRST time she left her baby in the car then given a course in time management.
I like the Post-It note idea. She should have been taught this.
And BTW, I came into the thread AFTER the prewarnings were established. That’s what upsets me. Baby’s fall in pools, drown in bathtubs and fly out of windows because of mistakes. Those are very sad but happen.
Like I said, I would feel for her if this were the first time.
>>Doesn’t matter to me whether it matters to you; I was just making an observation<<
Well actually, when a post is addressed to a particular poster and the word, “you” is used, it’s really seen more of an accusation.
“Why do I get the sense that, for you and some others here, this is more about tooting your own horn about your parenting skills, than it is about the issue at hand?”
But since you didn’t mean it that way, it’s easily overlooked.
Suggest locking the dimwitted prosecutor in the car for the same time in the same heat.....then let him say it doesn’t meet negligence standards. People are charged all over the country and are convicted for the same circumstances as in this case.
Works for me! Justice served and all that, right?
The cases you cite are one-time incidents, unless their actions were known to be habitual. Were they? Plus, I doubt it took them 8 hours or even minutes to figure out something was amiss. Don’t you get it? This woman was known to leave her children in the car alone for several minutes at a time on various occasions and was warned not to do so. She went to her car several times on the day of the incident. To not question her behavior is irresponsible in and of itself. And the reason the prosecutor isn’t pressing charges is because under Ohio law she can’t be held responsible unless it can be proven she intentionally left the child in the car. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t think she’s guilty or deserves it.
I get it - she had left her child in the car on 3 previous occasions for up to 15 minutes. I see a distinct difference between those previous incidents and 8 hours. Don’t you get it?
I have never said her behavior wasn’t irresponsible. What I’m speaking against is the visceral response to what happened. The reality is that for the vast majority of the folks who want her dead at some level - it’s really none of their business. They just get to flout their superiority and judgemental attitudes.
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