Locked In Hot Car, 2 Young Boys Die; Woman [Foster Mother] Arrested in Deaths

Associated Press via CBSNews.com & Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | July 9, 2003

[newgeezer]

For discussion and educational use only.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide detectives examine the car in which they say the brothers, age 3 and 5, were locked in for about five hours before they were discovered by police. (Photo: AP)

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Locked In Hot Car, 2 Boys Die
LANCASTER, Calif., July 9, 2003


Two young boys died Tuesday after being locked for five hours in a sport utility vehicle in sweltering heat outside a daycare center, authorities said.

The boys, ages 3 and 5, were found by sheriff's deputies around 2 p.m. in the driveway of the daycare center.

Sheriff's Sgt. Paul Patterson says the 5-year-old was dead. His brother, who was severely dehydrated, died a short time later at a hospital.

Authorities say the boys had recently been placed in the foster care of the woman who ran the center.

Police also say she is the owner of the car in which the children were found.

They say the woman, whose identity was not released, told authorities that she left the children in the car at around 9 a.m.

A woman who answered the phone at A Child's Place Daycare declined to comment.

Afternoon temperatures hovered around 100 degrees in Lancaster, a high desert town about 70 miles north of Los Angeles. But Patterson said the temperature inside a closed car could have exceeded 120 degrees.

© MMIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Woman Arrested in Deaths of 2 Young Boys

LANCASTER, Calif. (AP)--The foster mother of two young boys who died after being left five hours in a sweltering sport utility vehicle was arrested for investigation of child endangerment.

Leslie Sue Smoot, 48, was booked late Tuesday night and held on $100,000 bail. No court date was scheduled.

Sheriff Lee Baca said earlier Tuesday that those responsible for leaving the children in the car would be charged with child endangerment and possibly manslaughter.

``Vehicles are not playpens,'' he said. ``Vehicles are not baby sitters. And vehicles, when they are not properly ventilated, are death traps.''

Smoot told authorities she left the boys, ages 3 and 5, in the car around 9 a.m. outside A Child's Place Daycare, which she ran.

``She indicated she thought someone else was going to get the children out of the car, possibly her husband,'' Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Al Grotefend said. ``There was some miscommunication.''

Smoot told investigators she discovered the boys in their car seats when she returned in the afternoon and pulled them from the vehicle.

The 5-year-old was dead. His brother, who was severely dehydrated, died a short time later at a hospital, sheriff's Sgt. Paul Patterson said.

Afternoon temperatures hovered around 100 degrees in the high desert town about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Officials from the Department of Children and Family Services said they will investigate.

A woman who answered the phone at A Child's Place Daycare declined to comment. Friends and parents gathered Tuesday at the 24-hour day care center.

Naeemah Edwards, whose daughter attended the center, told KABC-TV she was shocked.

``They come in with my daughter, and they play together,'' she said, adding that she would not let her child to return to the center.

AP-NY-07-09-03 0642EDT

Copyright 2003, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

[newgeezer]

Conflicting facts in the 2 stories:

• The boys, ages 3 and 5, were found by sheriff's deputies around 2 p.m. in the driveway of the daycare center.
  
  
• Smoot told investigators she discovered the boys in their car seats when she returned in the afternoon and pulled them from the vehicle.

Sloppy journalism?

[Vesuvian]

I agree with that sentiment 100%

and if you think about what happened, it could well be the perfect crime- not intentional murder, but death by oops!

[admiralsn]

Naeemah Edwards, whose daughter attended the center, told KABC-TV she was shocked. ``They come in with my daughter, and they play together,'' she said, adding that she would not let her child to return to the center.

Well there is at least ONE smart parent out there.

[admiralsn]

And this will probably lessen her sentence, or save her sorry self altogether with a sympathetic jury. The ol' "it's not MY fault, it's his" routine.

[smadurski]

I wont even leave my baby daughter in the car for a minute by herself.

[agrace]

POSSIBLY manslaughter??? Lock her in an SUV and leave it in the desert. But first take away her foster care priveledges, any other kids she might have, revoke her day care license and condemn the building for good measure.

[lawgirl]

Totally agree.

[Clara Lou]

My husband and I had 4 children, and not once did we leave one in a car by forgetting them. They were the first things we took out of the car, not the last. This is utterly barbaric. I just can't figure out why a foster mother would do this on purpose. On the other hand, didn't she wonder why things were so quiet for so long? This is negligence. Zzzzzzzzzzztttt! Where's Old Sparky?

[areafiftyone]

Even if my kids wanted to stay in the car I would take them inside kicking and screaming if necessary. Our fostercare system needs to be scrutinized. But then again how many times has it happened to kids who weren't foster kids. Some women should never be mothers period!

[admiralsn]

``She indicated she thought someone else was going to get the children out of the car, possibly her husband,'' Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Al Grotefend said. ``There was some miscommunication.''

So maybe her husband (or whomever) was also at the center and she left the kids in the car and assumed he would go get them. Why not check after- oh, I don't know, an HOUR?!?! OR, perhaps he was to come by and pick them up and take them somewhere else. Why could they not have come inside to wait? What a sorry excuse for a parent, much less a foster parent.

[Clara Lou]

Sloppy journalism?
Or is Smoot simply a liar?

[Mears]

Who are the Haredim,and why do they do this?

[CindyDawg]

Guys it's not the poor womans fault. It belongs to the "hot SUV". If you don't believe me, listen to Paul Harvey today. After he beat up the president over the war issue , he went on to this story and stressed it was not just a car but an SUV. Made me want to throw up. Poor babies.

[admiralsn]

Even if my kids wanted to stay in the car I would take them inside kicking and screaming if necessary.

Exactly! Who can't see that? Who doesn't understand that? Not only because of the heat, a $40,000 car is NOT a toy to be played with or in, whether a parent is present or not.

[admiralsn]

I am sure all of that extra gas in the tank helped to heat the thing up even more. And the extra metal on the SUV made things worse.

[A_perfect_lady]

Who are the Haredim?

[Alouette]

(The Haredim have a reputation for doing this a lot there.)

How many times is "a lot"? Once? Twice? How is it typical? Does it never happen to anyone else?

There have been a few cases in Israel of secular Jews dousing their children with gasoline and setting them on fire. So can I therefore say that seculars do this "a lot" and that they have a "reputation" for burning their kids alive?

I am haredi, I have 9 children and I have never left any one of them inside a hot car. I don't know anyone in my community who has done this. However there have been several incidents of yuppie professionals who have fried their kids in the hot SUV. Would you say that yuppie professionals "have a reputation" for frying their kids?

You need to read this article about the hot-car tragedy in Israel, which happened in 1999, before you go off half-cocked again with your peculiar bigotries.

Let's see now, you claim you are not a cookie, you despise religious Jews, but you have accused Pat Robertson of trying to destroy Judaism.

[steplock]

The charge is MURDER.

NO excuses

[lainie]

These was my first thoughts too. #1 I can't believe the CBS news story doesn't even mention that the car is an SUV, and #2, gee none of this would have happened if the lady just drove one of those electric hybrids /sarc

[wideawake]

That's actually a good point. He may have been just behaving until he passed out.

In any event, someone who would just leave a five year old and a three year old to their own devices for five hours needs to be educated with an aluminum baseball bat for five hours.