Posted on 07/25/2014 1:27:49 PM PDT by eccentric
Wichita police say a 10-month-old baby was left alone in a hot car for two to two and a half hours Thursday afternoon. The girl was found dead at around 6:40 pm in the 1500 block of S. Topeka.
Police say the girl's 29-year-old foster father picked her up from a babysitter at around 4:00 in the afternoon. They returned to the home along with a five-year-old child. Police say, somehow, the child was left behind in the car as the 29-year-old and the 5-year-old went inside.
The foster father's partner, a 26-year-old man who is also a foster parent, was in the backyard when they came home and didn't realize the young girl was not inside.
Police say the two were watching TV when they realized the girl was not in the house. They found the girl unresponsive, brought her inside and called 911.
Emergency crews were dispatched to the home and pronounced the girl dead.
Police took both men in for questioning, then arrested the 29-year-old on one count of Aggravated Child Endangerment. Police expect to present their case to the District Attorney's Office next week.
Police say the girl has lived with the foster parents since last fall, and they were in the process of adopting her. They adopted five and seven year old children. Those two were taken into police protective custody.
Three other foster children live in the home, they are staying with other family members.
Police do not know how hot it was in the car when the girl was found.
Police are tracking down family members before releasing any names.
I’m over it. What I can’t believe is the violent hatred of these people for what is a mistake. A terrible mistake, but a mistake none the less. People saying they should do hard time. Come on. They aren’t hardened criminals.
‘Children need to be in the front seat where parents can physically see them and comfort them when needed or spend time talking or singing to them...’
It is against the law in most states to have child in a front seat of a passenger car. In most states a baby MUST be in the back seat. Rear facing, in an infant seat until age 2. Children must be in safety or booster seats until age 8.
There was also a 5-year-old in the car in this case. Was this child in the front seat?
’ How many less would there be if the parents were allowed to put the car seats in the front instead of the back where the babies fall asleep and they are easier to forget?’
The problem is that significantly more would die in traffic accidents even in a child safety seat as the front airbags and or damage is much greater in front seats.
I’m not reading the posts
Hard time?
Sick
No
Could e focus on as a culture NOT GOVERNMENT! that parents are checked out
I know what the law says but I also know that my children rode in the front seat where I could keep an eye on them and talk to them while we were driving. Of course that was before we had government interfering and mandating that we had to have air bags in the passenger seat.
They also rode in the back of their dad’s pick-up truck along with our two dogs.
I see absolutely nothing safe about a child in the back seat in a rear facing seat where you absolutely cannot keep an eye on them.
My children were also put to bed in a crib with slats, no bumper pads, on their stomach and with a blanket covering them. The horror of it all!
I agree they are checked out. But, our society is moving so fast that they are immune to most regular stimulus. Who doesn’t have a smart phone, two jobs, two mortgages, two car payments. People load themselves up with what they think are essentials and forget what is really important.
They forget there’s an explanation to the creator at tge end
They don’t care. Most people pay lip service to a deity if even that. It is all about them.
As a friend of mine said. Most people want their heaven here and now on Earth.
That’s it
I wouldn’t put any of my small grandchildren in the front seat with me now, not because of the fine issue but because of the airbag on the passenger’s side. My car was struck in the rear end while I was sitting at a stop light, my airbag on the driver’s side deployed and I ended up with two broken ribs and a punctured lung and I am a LOT larger than any small child.
But I do rail about government interference in our daily lives on a very, very regular basis to all of my reps and senators, both in Texas and in DC. The last email I sent to Senator Cornyn was about defining who should have access to the information generated by black boxes in cars. He responded thanking me for my concern about the national debt. Neither Washington D.C. nor Austin cares.
I now a lady who realizes she’s an air head. She’s worried she may forget her kid one day, so she threads the car seat belt through her purse strap in the back seat so she’ll never forget. I know another lady who always drives barefoot. She leaves her shoes in the back seat next to the baby. I doubt either one would ever forget their kids, but these stories scare them bad enough, they’ve taken proactive steps just to be sure.
But now with air bags, putting young children in the front seat is very dangerous. Children really are safer in the rear seats.
The story is certainly confusing, but my comment was a general idea about the issue of children being left in car seats in the back seat, not a comment on this particular case.
With each passing year it happens more frequently. If there were appropriate punishment, I bet the parents would be less forgetful. And I’m sorry for the parents’ pain, but shouldn’t we focus more on the child?
‘If there were appropriate punishment, I bet the parents would be less forgetful.’
I highly doubt it. It is not intentional, punishment has no effect on unintentional acts.
Every one is focused on the child already. Especially the parent. In any other accident that kills a child the focus is also on the child, but sympathy for the parent is much more. In these instances the parents own forgetfulness is to blame making them even more heart broken.
You can not regulate against tragedy. regardless of punishment, they will happen. This type of tragedy is being completely blown out of proportion. Less than 3 dozen children a year die in this manner, whereas hundreds die every year drowning in buckets, bathtubs and even toilets. These tragedies all have an element of negligence as well.
Even if it where hundreds a year, it is a very small, microscopic even, percentage of the total population of children in a country of 300+ millions.
What punishment should we meet out to cause further anguish to the parent?
For most parents, I couldn't imagine repercussions more serious than knowing you were responsible for the agonizing death of your child. I doubt added prison time will be much of a deterrent.
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