Posted on 02/22/2011 9:01:22 AM PST by TSgt
The Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney says no charges will be filed against a sheriff deputy whose son died while playing with a gun. Four year old Aiden Mehlbauer was hit with a bullet in the stomach and died last Wednesday.
Police say Aiden Mehlbauer and his twin brother, Mason were in the basement of their home playing around 4 p.m. that afternoon. Their mother told investigators she was upstairs helping her six year old daughter with her homework. The boys were apparently in an office area currently under construction in which the boys' father, Greg Mehlbauer, a Franklin County Sheriff's deputy has stored his uniforms and other law enforcement equipment.
In that area, State Police say the twins located a loaded .40 caliber Glock semi automatic handgun. The boys were handling the gun when it discharged, striking Aiden in the abdomen.
Aiden was taken by Air Care helicopter to Cincinnati Children's Hospital where he died several hours later.
Deputy Mehlbauer was at work at the time of the shooting. He has been a Franklin County Sheriff Deputy for the past 10 years.
The Indiana State Police handled the investigation. Today, in a release to the media, the prosecuting attorney, Mel Wilhelm, said his office "has carefully reviewed the state police reports and has spoken at length with investigators concerning their findings and feels the circumstances surrounding this incident do not meet the elements of a crime under the Indiana Code."
Related cases where the, non-cop, parents were charged:
Father charged in daughter's accidental shooting death http://www.wthr.com/story/8285603/father-charged-in-daughters-accidental-shooting-death?redirected=true
Father Charged In Son's Accidental Shooting Death http://www.wlwt.com/news/20239336/detail.html
Father charged in 3-year-old son's accidental shooting http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_north_pinellas/clearwater/father-charged-in-3-year-old-son%27s-accidental-shooting
Antioch father charged in toddler's accidental killing http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17285062?nclick_check=1
Father charged in accidental shooting of 20-month-old http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/7628666/
We can’t poosibly ALL be expected to follow the same rules.(sarc)
And I agree the double standard is repulsive and un-American.
But you didn't really expect a law enforcer to be charged in any innocent's death,did you?
Funny how all the people crying "the family will be punished enough by the child's death" don't have the same view if Joe Sixpack's kid dies!
I am STUNNED by the egregiousness of this double standard! It is REPELLENT!
You didn’t get the memo? It is LE’s job to enforce the law, but not necessarily obey the law.
It is your job to obey the law, and pay all associated costs, benefits, and pensions at 20 years.
In reality why aren’t the standards for LE and other public servants much more stringent and higher than average citizens who pay the freight?
don’t you know that we are ALL equal.... just some of us are more equal than others.
This is one of the purposes of a jury of peers.
don’t look now,,, but clearwater and cincinnati are in different states. And as for the infantile desire to criminalize every tragic accident,, grow up. Cop or not,,, some parents should be prosecuted,, such as the ones who were drunk, were engaged in horseplay, etc. But everytime a kid does this,,, the answer isn’t always a parent rotting in prison. The guy has another kid,,, its senseless to compound the tragedy to placate the self righteous.
For most of this country’s history,,, people knew these events were properly viewed as accidents. You very rarely hear of repeat offenders after such a tragedy. They’ll suffer more than enough if that helps you feel better.
Don’t look now, but I see a pattern here:
UPDATE: 2-year-old shot herself with reserve deputy’s gun (INDIANA DEPUTY - NOT CHARGED)
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/apr/21/crawford-county-toddler-found-dead-apparent-gunsho/
Ft. Wayne mother charged after her 2-year-old son shot his 1-year old brother (INDIANA MOTHER - CHARGED)
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20091018/LOCAL07/310189904/-1/local11
A Fort Wayne mother who was charged with neglect of a dependent after her 2-year-old son shot his 1-year-old brother in the face with a gun. That toddler suffered serious injuries but survived. The mother told police she had the gun at her home for safety purposes.
Typical LEO idiot.
HE was at work at the time of the shooting.
SHE was at home. Why hasn’t she been charged?
That being said, my personal opinion is that firearms "accidents" in the strictest sense are extremely rare...there is usually some element of negligence and some abandonment of common sense in virtually every so-called "accident."
Sure there are times when a weapon mechanically fails, an improperly manufactured round detonates in the chamber, or a freak ricochet results in an injury on even a well layed out and proofed range. Such incidents do happen but are rare. If people treated every firearm as though it were loaded (i.e. don't leave them where children have access to them), kept the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, kept their fingers off the trigger until they were ready to shoot, and were certain of their target and what was behind it, probably 99% of all firearm "accidents" would be eliminated.
different facts, different DA’s different outcomes,,, AMAZING. But I’m sure they got a memo from black helicopter HQ to not prosecute the cop. As for your anecdotal ‘evidence’,,, I could flood a page with things cops are prosecuted for that we usually aren’t. The fact remains that there is a devastated family here,,, and whether they are a cop or a banker, barring any unusually negligent behavior, prosecution here seems pointless.
Negligence on the part of the parents is obvious by the fact the child is dead.The parents should be dealt with regardless of their occupations.
The usual police response is confiscation of all firearms in the home and self-righteous lectures to the public on "the dangers of firearms in the home';but if it happens in a cop's home..........(crickets)
“..and whether they are a cop or a banker, barring any unusually negligent behavior, prosecution here seems pointless.”
Please allow me to expand upon the above well thought out phrase.
The state has no right ti intervene after a child dies in such cases because they do not own the child. The parent has created and raised the child - not Da Gooberment.
Neither did “the Village” raise the child, despite whatever the HillaBeast says.
If you don’t own it, you can’t control it.
Tragedies occur. Evil does exist and sometimes the innocent die.
But - to allow government outside of the carefully crafted bounds created in the Constitution is to invite the heavy jackboots of government into the family.
America tried it and all we got for it is a ‘swarm of officers’ and bills beyond calculation without exponential numbers.
Better by far that an occasional child dies than the family become subordinate to the government.
I agree. The point that get's most people upset is not that the deputy won't be charged, it is the double standard that the DA used, and where the public has generally been charged. When a family member is killed in a preventable accident the family will forever pay a huge price. I'm not usually in favor of compounding it.
Yes in many cases there should be a double standard. When a sworn public official is corrupt or commits crimes, or falsely gathers evidence or gets bribed, I'm in favor sending them away for a very very long time breaking big rocks into little pebbles with loss of all pensions and no chance of parole.
It would be interesting to find a compilation of some of the stats behind on charged vs. uncharged. Just playing devil’s advocate, I Googled “no charges, child shooting” and found these on the first page:
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread592498/pg1
http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/115814/No-charges-will-be-filed-in-Pa—child-shooting.html?isap=1&nav=757
http://www.wbtv.com/global/story.asp?s=11799263
http://www.jdnews.com/articles/beaufort-80272-charges-child.html
I was raised in a family of hunters. It would have been more unusual for my parents to lock a gun up than to leave it on a table, in a drawer, or propped in a corner. But we were all taught to NEVER touch one unless given permission.
That said, if one of us had disobeyed and the unthinkable happened, my parents would have considered that worse than any punishment the law might have decided to dish out. I’m sure most parents - cops or civilian - would feel the same way.
Exactly. A far as a double standard,,, has this DA prosecuted someone is similar circumstances who was not a cop? A far as bribery, etc,, you are dead on.
They should be equal if not more stringent. Right now it seems like they are using the resident Soetoro rules - do what you want.
Apologies to the good LEOs I’ve met and worked with.
You don’t know the facts here. You don’t know what sort of actus rea and mens rea the prosecutor had to prove. Moreover, there are many occasions when non-leos are not charged in cases like this. The prosecutor sometimes decides that the parent has suffered enough. LEO or not.
I find it hilarious that you are taking this tantrum when you know nothing about the details of the case.
How are you different from any liberal? You seem to want the law applied a certain way because of who it is going to be applied against. Facts mean nothing apparently.
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