HOW THE FUCK DO YOU "FORGET" A KID IN THE VEHICLE?!?!?!?!

[PISSED][PISSED][PISSED][PISSED][PISSED][PISSED]

[URL]http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2003/jun/06/060610680.html[/url]

Tot dies after Vegas teacher forgets him all day in hot van

By KEN RITTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A 7-month-old boy died early Friday after being forgotten in a hot van for eight hours, and police said his schoolteacher father could face a felony child endangerment charge.

"He was responsible for the health and safety of the child, and the child died," Lt. Jeff Carlson said.

Carlson identified the father as a high school teacher in Las Vegas, but declined to release his name because he had not been charged with a crime.

The boy died shortly before 1 a.m. Friday at University Medical Center in Las Vegas.

Carlson said the father found the boy unconscious about 4 p.m. Thursday in the back seat of his van while picking up the boy's 2-year-old brother at day care.

"He leaves work, runs some errands, goes to day care, opens the door of the van and finds the child unconscious," Carlson said.

The younger child had been in a child safety seat in the van since 8 a.m., when the father changed his morning routine and stopped for coffee on the way to his campus on the last day of the school year.

The National Weather Service reported a high temperature of 98 degrees Thursday in Las Vegas. Police said the temperature inside the parked van could have reached 160 degrees.

Carlson said detectives would submit a report to Clark County District Attorney David Roger for possible prosecution. Roger was not immediately available Friday for comment.

Four previous cases since 2001 involving children who died after being left unattended in hot cars did not result in any prosecutions under Roger's predecessor, Stewart Bell.

It was the third time in three days that children had been left unattended in vehicles in Las Vegas. Police will seek gross misdemeanor endangerment charges against the parents in the other two cases, Carlson said.

Carlson said detectives were investigating after a mother forgot her 1-year-old for an hour in a car Wednesday while she was watching four other children. The child was treated for dehydration and is recovering.

On Tuesday, a 16-month-old became the focus of the state's first "Amber Alert" after his mother allegedly left him in a car that was stolen while she shopped. The thief abandoned the car at a convenience store, and the boy was found unharmed about five hours later. The car thief has not been found.

At least 120 children died from heat injuries nationwide from 1996 to 2000, a General Motors study shows. Seven of those deaths occurred in southern Nevada.

A year ago, a 5-year-old North Las Vegas boy died after climbing into a car parked in the family driveway. The car's door handles didn't work. Temperatures that day reached 101 degrees.

In 2001, a 5-year-old boy and two infants died in Clark County in separate cases after being left in hot cars.

I know someone that recently left two dogs in her car that died.
Believe me, she is a tree hugging vegetarian and loved those dogs. It was an accident, pure and simple.
She will punish herself enough.

There's just something about this that doesn't seem right.

Changed his routine? WTF does that mean????


These kinds of stories are like a punch to the belly. [V]

Ugh...how sad.

I do not understand how anyone can "forget" a child in a car.  What do they have on their minds that is so important?  Coffee? Last day of school?  You forget your child just because you change routines?  I have trouble buying that.

This happens several times a year in Detroit.  Usually the parent gets off with a slap on the hands.  However, in Detroit if you leave a dog in the car and it dies from the heat you will go to jail!  How messed up is the world when you go to jail over a dog but not a child?

My friend was heading into work (where she can bring her dogs.. she's the boss) and saw some other stray dog. She decided to leave her dogs in the car and get them later to avoid a dogfight.
She is extremely devastated over it.
She just forgot about them.

That is real unfortunate. Now days with so much going on, it is easy to forget about your child, especially if they are strapped in the back set where the NTSB recommends to put children. It is easy, "out of sight, out of mind." My wife used to strap our youngest son in the front seat, just to be sure that she doesn't forget about him. We are fortunate to be able to do that because we have an older automobile that don't have passenger-side airbags.

He should be charged with manslaughter, pure and simple!

And then have his nuts cut off so he can never breed again!!

Sgtar15

BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!  If you forget about your kids then you have no right being a parent!!

"out of sight, out of mind."??  Sounds like some people need to refocus their priorities.  I have a 15y.o. boy and I still always know where he is at.

Unbelievable!!!!!!

Sgtar15

I have to agree with sgtar15 and Ogre on this one. There is nothing more important in this world to me than my son! No matter what I had to do I would never forget he was with me or that he is my first priority. Especially when he was younger. I can guarantee you if I did forget him and it resulted in his death no one would have to consider charging me with anything. I could not live with myself and I would get it over with very quickly. I would hate to be this dad and have to live with this.[V]

How can you leave a 7 month old baby alone anywhere let alone in a vehicle while you stop for coffee???  He first needs his nuts flattened in a vise and then be taken out in the desert, tied to a cacti, and left to die.

What a horrible way for that poor baby to die.  

I usually skip stories like this in the paper.

I'm still a yougin' so I don't know how it is to be a parent, but I think he should be charged with everything they can throw at him.  He shouldn't have been that irresponcible(sp?).  When you have a kid you take care of it.  You don't see animals leaving their young somewhere because "they forgot".  160 degrees, damn that sick.

Tragedy with, undoubtedly, repercussions for the family.  I couldn’t imagine the pain.  

Me?  I've never come close.  Even if loading a car, I would always keep the child in view and within earshot.  Also, the doors and windows would be open.  So careful, I’ve only had the reverse happen.  A brief scare from nothing but my imagination.  In that situation, my routine was broken and my baby safe with Mom at home but I thought for a millisecond:   “where’s my baby?”.  

If you are worried about out of sight out of mind, put your wallet under the child's seat.   Only put the wallet back in your pocket after you remove the baby.  If you forget, see how far you get before remembering.

The last few years there have been a number of these cases in the education community.

I hope the police spend a few minutes on lexis/nexis and pull the other times this has happened with a male teacher or professor.

This is a good example of Norman74's theory about people not being held accountable for their actions. "It was an accident" should not be acceptable in these cases.

You know what, it seems like somebody would come up with a warning device for situations like this. How about a car seat that alarms a key chain device if it isnt unbuckled in an hour......I want half if one of you bastards makes this work.[:D]

I saw a story somewhere, can't remember where that the US DoT is working on this problem. This is a 6-10 months ago.

it's not the first time and it wont be the last!

wouldn't be suprised if [b]some[/b] of the cases were intentional.

i carry a lockout tool in my truck and "rescued" a little girl who's parents had somehow locked in the vehicle... they were there making pathetic attempts to get the kid to unlock the car doors from the inside... not working so i went to my truck, got the tool and took charge of the situation. old Toyota opened in about 10 seconds... (i also keep an automatic center punch and small sledge hammer in the truck) anyway... she wasn't in danger because that was in february.... it was just inconvienent... but in the summer months it IS deadly.

What a dumb-ass!  HTF can you let that happen?  If an Officer or NCO forgot one of his men in the desert they would charge him with murder.