Posted on 08/04/2005 6:41:41 AM PDT by WestTexasWend
A mother's horror turned to a grave reality just before 6 p.m. Wednesday when she stopped to pick up her 1-year-old son from Madison's Place Day Care, located in the 5200 block of 13th Street.
According to police, day care employees told the mother they had not seen Joseph Duemer - born July 15, 2004 - all day, and he had not been checked into the facility.
The mother returned to her vehicle to find Joseph dead in the back seat, said Lubbock police spokesman Lt. Roy Bassett.
"He was in the back seat and had been back there all day," Bassett said.
Although Joseph was transported for treatment, Bassett said it was too late to save him.
According to Lubbock police Sgt. Leland Hufstedler, unconfirmed reports indicate the mother left her home about 8 a.m. Wednesday to drop off the child at Madison's Place.
"Right now, it doesn't look like it was anything intentional," said Hufstedler.
The high temperature in Lubbock was 93 Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. The temperature dipped to 90 at about 6 p.m.
The mother was being questioned Wednesday night by police about the incident, Bassett said.
"The mother was taken to the police station to possibly give a statement and possibly speak to detectives if she chooses to," said Bassett, who indicated the father arrived at the day care shortly after the baby's death was reported to 911 from the facility.
At press time, a Lubbock police investigator said the mother had yet to give a statement to police and did have an attorney present at the station.
Exiting the police station at about 9:30 p.m., the mother was consoled by her husband along with a Lubbock attorney and a small group of people.
Leaving in a white T-shirt, black jogging shorts and tennis shoes, the mother dabbed at eyes swollen with tears before getting into a vehicle and leaving the station.
Hufstedler said the investigation continues as they plan to determine whether the case should head to Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney Bill Sowder for presentation to a grand jury.
Bassett said there will be an autopsy conducted to determine the cause of death.
Bingo!
My husband's family left his little sister at a rest stop while they were on vacation one time. They didn't notice that she hadn't gotten back in the car until about two exits down the freeway.
Bookmark
I had to go back and check the URL as I read the apologists for this whole mess.
So pay attention, here. Listen up.
NOTHING, I REPEAT, NOTHING IS AS IMPORTANT AS THAT CHILD. NOT THE D@MNED SUV, THE YUPPIE MANSIONETTE, THE NEW CLOTHES THE PLASMA TV, THE SPORTS TICKET, THE PHONE BILL, NOT ONE D@MNED GEEGAW OR THING ON THIS PLANET IS AS PRECIOUS AS THAT BABY.
IF YOU ARE "SO TIRED" THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO REMEMBER YOUR CHILD FOR LONG ENOUGH FOR THEM TO DIE IN THE BACKSEAT, CHANGE YOUR LIFE, CAUSE YOU ARE NOT LIVING.
YOUR CHILD HAS BECOME JUST ANOTHER "THING" AND NOT THE SOURCE OF JOY AND FULFILLMENT HE OR SHE WAS MEANT TO BE.
Give the race to the rats and move.
Better to live in a hovel and drive an old beater to a menial job than to risk the life of your child. All the rest is just stuff. In the end it is meaningless crap. The only thing you will leave behind which will make a difference is your kid.
Absolutely no appologies for 'SHOUTING'.
My attorney, Snydney R. Whiplash would have jumped all over this one. 6 figures, no less.
>If you ask me, this is just another unintended consequence of >children in the back seat where they are more easily >forgotten. If the child was sitting next to her in the front >seat, it would be unlikely she would have forgotten him.
AIRBAGS? You've got to be kidding me.
That's as wrong as saying "the real problem was a lack of birth control. That would have prevented the child from being there in the first place."
Get real.
Nor have I ever forgotten a baby or child in the back seat.
I'm astonished at this- we're not talking about a memory problem , but a VISION problem.
How do you get INTO and OUT of your car and NEVER see the back seat? You don't SEE a child there, or you don't process seeing him/her? How do you miss something two feet away from you? How do you look in your rear view mirror during traffic and NOT see your child?
Are these people brain damaged or preternaturally stupid? Speaking as a woman, I would vote that people whose inattention and stupidity KILLS their child this way be sterilized. They would not 'replace' that baby. I'm not sure any older children should be left in their care either, I'd find family members to take over custody.
How many more babies must this dits kill before you beleive that she's copable for the death of a child in her care?
RIGHT ON, JOE!
I have in my life forgotten things, important things, while distracted. It's my good fortune that none of these has caused me to live the rest of my life knowing that I'd killed my own child in a horrible way.
ditto that
but actually, you dont' really KNOW, do you? All what you just wrote is purely CONJECTURE.
I agree with your post. Good for you. I've been guilty of things too - and I bet many of the parents posting indignantly here also have.
But how do you know she has all those things???
We have a winner! Bravo!
You have it exactly. The baby has become a 'thing' to be dropped off and picked up, like laundry. It's not uppermost in their mind, it's just one more possession in the back seat and it becomes invisible once the 'important' stuff takes over the mind-work, the schedule.
I think there's a real element of impaired brain function at play in these incidents too. Low IQ or just plain stupid- it's the 'duh' factor.
If it's not intentional then it IS negligent, and it is death by negligence and should be prosecuted. If you neglected to FEED that child, get it medical care or let it wander the street and it died- you would be prosecuted,no?
What's the difference here?
BUSY is a good enough excuse for death by negligence? Since when???
My sympathies to the family, but "young mothers who are forced back to work in order to survive" is a little melodramatic for this situation, IMHO. This is Lubbock, after all, and a dual-income married couple, not a teenage single mom struggling to make ends meet. This was no young mother "forced back to work in order to survive," I've no doubt. (Unless bigger house, two cars, cable TV, weekly trips to the mall, and fast food are considered necessary for survival.)
I totally agree that having the gubmint punish her makes it all better.
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