SUV with baby in it carjacked in B'klyn

NY DAILY NEWS ^ | 08/19/03 | JOHNNY DWYER and RICHARD WEIR

[bedolido]

It was an irresistible score: A fancy SUV left unlocked and running while a newspaper carrier ran inside a Brooklyn grocery to make a delivery. The only hitch was that the white 2002 Chevy Tahoe came with a baby onboard, which cops say the unwitting thief learned only after stealing the sport-utility vehicle yesterday morning in Brownsville.

Eagle-eyed cops spotted the SUV six blocks away about five minutes later - with the 14-month-old girl safe inside, the engine still warm and a jittery man nearby.

"He said he found the car and there was a kid inside," said a police source.

But dubious officers took Richard Lee, 24, in for questioning. After witnesses identified Lee as the alleged thief, police arrested him on charges of grand larceny auto and endangering the welfare of a child.

Police said no charges were filed against the father, Quentel Bernadel, 26, for leaving his toddler, Aliah, alone in the car.

Bernadel, who operates an independent newspaper delivery company, makes stops every day at the Shop Smart at Rockaway and Blake Aves.

But storeowner Braulio Vargas said he never recalled seeing the man's daughter with him.

So Vargas was stunned when the hardworking Haitian immigrant came running back into the store frantically shouting, "They stole my truck and my baby!"

"He asked for the phone and called police," Vargas said. "He still has my portable phone. He ran off with it. But I don't care. Imagine if someone stole your Jeep with your daughter in it."

[bedolido]

Quentel Bernadel kisses daughter Aliah after the two were reunited.

[Gabrielle Reilly]

It is a crime leaving a baby/toddler/young child in the car under ANY circumstance... if car is running, not running, keys, no keys, hot, cold, whatever.

If people wouldn't leave a priceless painting in the car they should not leave a priceless child.

[End Times Sentinel]

Police said no charges were filed against the father, Quentel Bernadel, 26, for leaving his toddler, Aliah, alone in the car.

 

This guy ought to be locked up for driving an SUV.  'scuse me while I head back to DU...

 

 

 

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[thoughtomator]

I don't agree. He was just dropping off a load of newspapers, it's not as if he went shopping and left his kid locked up as if in storage. I don't see that anything the father did caused, or reasonably could have caused, damage to his child.

[End Times Sentinel]

If people wouldn't leave a priceless painting in the car they should not leave a priceless child.
 

 

Well, where would you suggest I leave the kids?  I'm not bringing them into the strip bar.

 

 

 

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[Libertina]

Don't you think we already have enough laws? Something bad happens in life and here we go with another law. I think it would be smarter to get control of our lawless society. People in the past never worried about this kind of assault - I would prefer to reinstate what they did than to fear and pass another d*mn law.

[RonF]

They probably figure this guy has learned his lesson.

[mommybain]

Given the recent media slant on SUVs, shouldn't the headline read 'SUV kidnaps baby'??

[PBRSTREETGANG]

So the guy does his newspaper delivery route with his daughter in the car and leaves the vehicle running while he goes in to make his deliveries.

Admittedly, not very bright. Although his other option would be placing the child in daycare which would also be severely frowned upon by a majority of the posters here.

[gtech]

"Carjacked"?

[CJ Wolf]

Ah Those Eagle-eyed cops! At least in this case the thief had a single decent bone in his body.

[gridlock]

Are we really certain there was a thief involved. How do we know that the SUV didn't just do this on it's own. SUVs are always doing all kinds of nasty stuff. Eeeeevil they are!

[sweetliberty]

"It is a crime leaving a baby/toddler/young child in the car under ANY circumstance"

I guess that makes most of OUR parents criminals. It's not like this is a new practice, it is just that it is one that is no longer safe given the current "cultural" environment. I mean, common sense should dictate that you don't leave a child shut up in a car in extreme temperatures, but most parents, at one time or another, have not wanted to wake a sleeping child and just needed to leave the car for a minute or two to run in the store, pay a bill or make a phone call. It is not a crime, but unfortunately, these days, it is extremely stupid.

[Question_Assumptions]

It is a crime leaving a baby/toddler/young child in the car under ANY circumstance... if car is running, not running, keys, no keys, hot, cold, whatever.

I disagree. It can be a crime if the child's safety was clearly endangered but I think it is a very dangerous game to take the details of risk assessment out of the hands of parents and put them into the hands of people for whom no risk is acceptable.

If people wouldn't leave a priceless painting in the car they should not leave a priceless child.

I wouldn't leave a priceless painting in my home without a substantial security upgrade nor would I leave one in the care of a public school teacher. Should we force every parent fortify their house like an art museum and prohibit them from leaving their children in the care of other adults unless they have a security clearance?

People don't drive around with priceless paintings in their cars. They put them in armored cars with security guards. Using your analogy, you are being negligent if you drive your child around in anything shy of of an armored car with armed guards. Does every parent you know drive their child around in an armored car?

[ffusco]

You don't think leaving your SUV running, unattended with a baby inside , in Brownsville, Brooklyn (a slum) was negligence and plain stupidity? Probably some socialist rag newspaper, too.

The look on the child's face says it all: My Father is a moron.

[mommybain]

SUVs are always doing all kinds of nasty stuff

My point exactly! You can't trust SUVs. They are all the time driving around doing unsavory things. And besides that, they have unpleasant faces. Heck, that's probably what's wrong with SUVs in the first place, they're unhappy cars. (Check out Clotaire Rapaille...)

[thoughtomator]

See the post #14 above yours... says pretty much what I think about the situation. Absolutism might feel good to advocate but in the real world it doesn't work. I don't see any reasonable comparison whatsoever between this man and the people who leave their kids in their cars for extended periods of time on purpose.

At least he was with his child... which puts him heads and shoulders above many other fathers.

[ffusco]

Leaving a vehicle running, unattended in one of the worst slums in America is not too bright. Sure.. I do it all the time when I run into get my dry cleaning, but I shop in a fairly upscale Houston neighborhood. And I don't have children, but my rottweiller sometimes comes for a ride in the bed of my pick up.

Take your daughter to work is a great thing, but to dragg a sleepy toddler along on a daily newspaper route is not what I call great parenting.

[1FreeAmerican]

This is too true. A few years ago a friend of mine was leaving a dinner party and was asked for a ride home from a lady who had a small child. He didn't know her but it was on his way. My friend stopped at the supermarket and went inside by himself leaving the woman and child in the car. When he came back out to his car he was greeted by a policeman who asked if this was his car. The woman had gone into another store and left the child in the car. He was arrested.

[thoughtomator]

True, but neither is it a grievous crime, and the circumstances of people who are poor and struggling rarely allow for the ideal situation. He may have had only one other choice, to leave his child at home alone. Given that choice, which would you have him choose?