What about the parent/adult that causes an accident (no speeding, drinking or texting, just didn't the see car and pulled out type accident) and a child under their care is injured or killed?
ETA: Didn't see DBT's example above.
Link: Child’s Death in Hot Car Leads to Unusual Murder Charge
- Thread starter TideMan09
- Start date
ETA: Didn't see DBT's example above.
In cases like this, I'm sure he punishes himself enough every day of the rest of his life.
It makes other people feel better, though. Send 'em straight to the gurney!
So to add on to my first story about the father who backed over his son. He takes off that day from work to mourn his son. How do you punish someone who is already punishing himself so much? You can't.
I thought I was pretty clear above - that's like the parent watching their child in the front yard who darts out in from t of a car - the parent is there, it's clearly an accident.
Negligence that causes the death of a child - leaving them in a car, leaving a loaded firearm lying around - that's the inexcusable aspect of it, imo.
I could come up with lots of examples, too, but the point remains, the things you guys listed re accidents, the ones I listed are acts of negligence.
Exactly. He and his first wife eventually divorced, not having any other children. He remarried several years ago and he and his wife adopted a son. He's the most loving, doting father a man can be. Why? I think he, more than most of us, has the appreciation of what it is to have a second chance. Most of us just take it for granted.
You see an accident as an accident and not negligence. I see causing an accident that caused the death of a child as both. The negligence caused the accident.
However, the personal torment the parents inflict on themselves is enough for me and I don't see the point in locking them up.
Which is why I stated "if I were king" - I know many feel differently. I believe there's a clear line between an accident when driving the negligence of leaving a loaded firearms some where or locking your child in the car. I don't care how sorrowful the man is, he killed his child.
I'll be brave enough to say it
I accidently left my son in the car once. For about 15 minutes. I got out of the car, as did my wife. We both thought the other had grabbed him. When it dawned on us that neither had him we rushed out to the garage to find him still sleeping peacefully in his seat. We were lucky, it wasn't too hot or cold and we noticed quick. It could have been different, but we are not criminals
That's my take
outside of that I know nothing of what happened in this particular situation
I accidently left my son in the car once. For about 15 minutes. I got out of the car, as did my wife. We both thought the other had grabbed him. When it dawned on us that neither had him we rushed out to the garage to find him still sleeping peacefully in his seat. We were lucky, it wasn't too hot or cold and we noticed quick. It could have been different, but we are not criminals
That's my take
outside of that I know nothing of what happened in this particular situation
How is it any different? You get distracted and you forget to look right, then left then right again and pull out into oncoming traffic. You can just as easily get distracted talking to your spouse about this, that or the other and forget the sleeping child in the car, especially if you aren't the one that normally takes the child to his sitter/daycare. Regardless, your negligence caused the death of your child. You have to live with that. I just don't think putting them in jail to put the cherry on top of the misery resolves anything.
Sorry, but I gotta disagree with you on the part in bold. In 99% of cases like this, nobody made a choice to do something that led to the death of a child. They are absolutely responsible, but they didn't choose to do it.
For those of you in Atlanta...
@RandyTravisFox5 Cobb law enforcement sources share "clue #1 he wasn't telling the truth" in case of dad who left baby in hot car. Exclusive at 6 #fox5atl
@RandyTravisFox5 Cobb law enforcement sources share "clue #1 he wasn't telling the truth" in case of dad who left baby in hot car. Exclusive at 6 #fox5atl
So I'll throw one more example out to you all. My wife's brother was killed in a car wreck when he was 19. He and two buddies had been out drinking a little beer in Mobile and were goofing off with some girls and chasing them along Wolf Ridge Road. Well, if you know Wolf Ridge Road, you know it's hilly and winds with a couple of sharp turns coming over one of the hills. My BIL was asleep/passed out in the back seat so thank God he didn't suffer or know what happened. Anyway, his friend lost control of the car, hit a tree and basically decapitated the passenger in the front seat and my BIL had massive head trauma as he wasn't strapped in. The driver broke his foot. My mother in law, being the absolute forgiving angel that she is, testified on behalf of my BIL's friend saying "He killed his two best friends. He has to live with that." The driver ended up serving I think 5 years involuntary manslaughter. Again, preventable, stupid, blah, blah, yep it was, but it happened.
I can't sit here and tell you that I never did that. I did. I was just lucky. Most of us did and some probably still do. In this case, the State did what they had to do. He was intoxicated, and by law he committed one crime, DUI, that led to the death of two others. He knowingly consumed excessive amounts of alcohol. I think "knowingly" is probably the key to him getting punished v. the parents who unknowingly leave their kids in the car.
I can't sit here and tell you that I never did that. I did. I was just lucky. Most of us did and some probably still do. In this case, the State did what they had to do. He was intoxicated, and by law he committed one crime, DUI, that led to the death of two others. He knowingly consumed excessive amounts of alcohol. I think "knowingly" is probably the key to him getting punished v. the parents who unknowingly leave their kids in the car.
Last edited:
That is definitely different, since he was doing something Illegal..by driving under the influence. He should have been charged no matter what.
Maybe the best thing in these situations where parents honestly forget their children...is a negligence charge.
This Georgia guy is completely different. Looks like it was on purpose and he needs to be charged with murder.
So here's the worst part of this all. His death was preventable and I blame myself. I was going to let him move in with me. He had some problems and was trying to turn it around and the last minute I sort of changed my mind. I liked having the house I was renting to myself and when his sister, my now wife would come over, I liked the privacy and didn't want that to be intruded upon. So for 25 years I've struggled with "What if." What if I hadn't been so selfish to help out my future brother-in-law, and yes, I knew I was going to marry his sister. What if I had just reached out? So, even though I have never left a child in the car or directly been involved in a situation that killed someone or resulted in someone's death, I still bear some guilt to this day for his death. What if.
Last edited:
Agreed. If he intentionally harmed his child, then there's not a tree high enough to hang him from. We'll have to wait for the investigation to conclude and the trial to commence to know the facts.
I'm going to guess they are going to say he said he never went back out to his car. Doesn't look good but certainly isn't damning evidence that it was premeditated. Especially considering the emotional distress he was probably in.
Last edited:
Possibly, but there's been no real proof of this other than some innuendo by the police after a public outcry of his charges/bail denial. They tend to look out for their own.
I agree if this was intentional there's not a punishment worthy of what he did, short of torture. I just can't believe a loving father (by all accounts) would kill his child by baking him to death. I have too much faith in humanity to default to that scenario.
I agree, if this is discovered to be an accident and he is just a negligent parent, then murder charge is extreme. A lot of things don't add up though, like him returning to his car at lunch?
He could have been going back to his car at lunch to check on his child...then went back into work. That would mean that he knew the child was in the car. Maybe he was late to work because of stopping to eat breakfast..and thought the child would be ok in the car..since he couldn't take the child into work? Even though this would be stupidity, I would still consider more severe charges against him.
We won't know all the details, until later...but this is just a sad situation all around. And I wish this will make people more aware of their surroundings and prevent this from happening on accident.
This was posted a while back. Is the brother negligent for leaving his sister asleep in the high school parking lot and she later died as a result of not being able to unlock the doors?
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...amily-sues-bmw-after-teen-dies-locked-n100881
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...amily-sues-bmw-after-teen-dies-locked-n100881
Latest threads
-
US Army replacing 5.56mm rifle with a 6.8mm for infantry- Started by Tidewater
- Replies: 1
-
-
Game One of Alabama-Texas A&M Alabama Series Moved to Friday as Part of Doubleheader- Started by Diamond Tide
- Replies: 0
-
Bama Game Thread: Bama Gymnastics - NCAA Championship Semi-finals (ESPN2 | 4/18 @ 8pm CT)- Started by BamaNation
- Replies: 32
-
No. 1 Visits Tuscaloosa for Second Straight Week as Alabama Hosts Top-Ranked Texas A&M
- Started by Diamond Tide
- Replies: 0
-