Father who left his child in car, charged with murder, no bond

[AndaliteBandit]

I'm not a father but I can't imagine how you can forget a child. That seems like a pretty important thing to never forget. If I can manage to never leave my glasses in my car I would like to think a parent would not forget their progeny.

Was thinking the same. I sympathize with him, but I cannot understand how this happened.

[Templar 331]

He clearly didn't intend to. However I feel negligence of this degree falls under "You intended to because you can't seriously be that stupid to do it by accident"

I know it doesn't seem like a sound argument, but seriously, you can't be that stupid to do it by accident, and if you ARE, then really all bets ought to be off for a fair punishment.

I agree with this. You don't accidentally leave the most important thing in your life, your offspring, in the car. And if you really are that stupid, I don't feel any sympathy for you for what comes next.

[Stormdash]

Given the special relationship between a parent and child and the special duties there, this fits as depraved heart/depraved indifference murder. They seem to be adopting a felony murder theory here which might be a trickier case to make (although it usually wouldn't be).

[Stonecloak]

Could've been exhaustion, but still to forget the child? Doesn't make sense unless your unconscious.

[KLPath]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg2mQ3FwiZU
This video features a mother who left her daughter in a car a couple years ago. She explains the circumstances that led to her forgetting her child in the backseat. She also talks about another mother that was in the news for the same thing a couple years before her. At the time when she saw the news report, she had the same thoughts as many of the people in this thread "this would never happen to my child, I would never make this mistake!!" Anyways...my point is, under the right/wrong set of circumstances, who knows
what could happen.

[Powerogue]

How is that murder? Not premeditated, unintentional, surely that's a by the book manslaughter?

Frankly in situations like this I would focus the punishment to be on not allowing them to have custody of children in the future. That would include things like teaching positions. Heaping massive jail time on top of an already grieving parent isn't helping anyone.

[ophion1990]

I don't buy it one bit tbh. How do you completly forget your child exists for a good 8 hours? Even if he forgot to drop off his child in the morning, if he actually cared for his child he should have remembered it throughout the day...

[Dendrek]

I don't buy it one bit tbh. How do you completly forget your child exists for a good 8 hours? Even if he forgot to drop off his child in the morning, if he actually cared for his child he should have remembered it throughout the day...

Unless he thought he did drop the child off. Or he thought his wife had the child that day. Or he was mentally overtaxed from something else (likely work-related) making concentration and wandering thoughts somewhat hard to come by. There's hardly enough evidence to suggest the only possible explanation is malicious intent.

[Christan]

Yeah, there's no way you can leave your kid in the car all day without realizing it, especially if you revisited the car at some point. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd double and triple check every time to make sure I didn't forget my kid in the backseat, even if I was sure I didn't. But I find it hard to believe he didn't once look back and check the car seat on the drive to work. That's just bad parenting, regardless of what else he had going on.

that is a habit one gets into, though it was with my niece not daughter, but she'd be using our car enough that the carseat pretty much stayed in it... always looked even if i knew for sure she wasn't buckled in.

a point in the fathers defense though, it was a rear facing car seat.

the child was supposed to be taken to daycare...did they seriously not call the parents to ask why the child wasn't in that day??? (not saying the fault is with them, hell no, it's with the father, but most daycares will call to make sure)

also the care has some nice dark tinted windows in the back, but the kiddo didn't make a noise the entire time? damn... poor kid...

the father deserves some jail time, but unless it WAS murder with intent... he shouldn't be facing those kinds of charges... well manslaughter is a state jail felony (4th degree) 1st degree murder is the max, so saying felony murder could just be saying 4th degree...who knows, (in tx misdemeanors can carry fines/jail time, D C B A lightest to worse, then 4 3 2 1 for felonies) not sure if it's the same in new york, don't see why not though, D is usually just a fine tbh, things like speeding/petty theft etc.

[AndaliteBandit]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...ping-for-ducks

We just had a thread a few days ago about a woman who accidentally killed two people by stopping on the highway for baby ducks. Most of the people in that thread said that because her gross negligence resulted in the death of two people, she should absolutely face prison time.

Now we have a man who accidentally killed his own child out of gross negligence, but we sympathize with him because anyone could forget that they're responsible for their child. Having to live with the death of his child, it would be cruel to punish him further.

[Deleted]

i have two young kids - story quite upset me.
how on earth does that happen though :S

gawd knows how id rationally judge that case tbh

[Deleted]

Dude is going to off himself, no doubt.

[Biske]

That's fucking hardcore. Working to provide for yourself and your family. Accidentally kill part of your family and ruin your own life Then all you can do is live the rest of your life paying for your mistake, knowing you're the only one to blame. I'd put him on constant suicide watch.

[Deleted]

He should not be done for murder. By all accounts it sounds he merely forgot his child was there and upon realization he tried CPR, and the fact he had to be pulled away from the body implies he is giving it his all trying to bring this child back to life.

While this is a tragic event, it is because of his negligence that the child has died. It's manslaughter at the least. Saying 'Oh he just forgot it's not his fault' really isn't an excuse here. If he had forgot to feed it is the same; child negligence, which very sadly has resulted in death. They say 10 minutes in a car on even a cool day is enough to kill a dog as large as a german shepherd, so considering it's summer and more likely a hotter day than usual a small child probably wouldn't even last that long.

This is very sad however, and I really feel for the father, and what will the mother think? All in all this is a tragic accident that has probably ruined this mans life already, he does not need to be charged with murder, imo.


Also I have just read a few of you claiming 'How can he even forget his child?' to which I reply; what if this is his first ever child? He's still probably not used to his routine yet. I myself have no children, but I have a dog. I have never left her in the car however, but there have been occasions where we have left her at my grandparents while my family goes out so she's not left on her own, and only upon arriving home/driving home do we remember that she's not there waiting for us because we don't do it that often.

This whole situation is difficult, but I still stick by my notion that unless we hear some outstanding evidence, that it shouldn't be murder.

But who knows at this point anyway?

[Deleted]

Another facticious guess, he didnt bring the child to the daycare every day, the mother did it. So it wasnt something that he was used to probably. Seriously, charging some1 whos life is over and has a very high % chance of killing himself, giving him prison time on top of that makes his life LITERALLY OVER. Jail time is not a solution.

(Unless of course hes psycho and intended this)

- - - Updated - - -

They say 10 minutes in a car on even a cool day is enough to kill a dog as large as a german shepherd, so considering it's summer and more likely a hotter day than usual a small child probably wouldn't even last that long.

10 minutes? wtf? thats 100% bullshit even if doctors state it. (gonna edit here cause i live in sweden a cool day is like ... 12 celcius for me. Opinions, i kno rite xD)

its almost like some car are airtight which causes carbon dioxide posioning. Buy better cars ffs.

[Deleted]

Punishment serves no purpose here. Human error happens. Accidents happen. What good will come of destroying that family's life further?

[Notchris]

May not be an accident after all. Seems he had been looking up how long an animal can survive in a hot car.

http://wreg.com/2014/06/25/source-da...ft-in-hot-car/

[Deleted]

I'm the firstborn of 5, when I was 3 my father left me at home when he went to a BnQ store (European store for DIY and tools etc) for 3 hours, only to remember I was at home after my mother yelled at him down the phone, thankfully as I was ill I slept the entire time.

I think it's entirely reasonable, but the worrying part is that I'm sure I read on another report there were searches on his work computer for "How long does it take for an animal to die in a hot car" although I can't remember if it was legit since it was on my Facebook this morning but... Y'know.

- - - Updated - - -

May not be an accident after all. Seems he had been looking up how long an animal can survive in a hot car.

http://wreg.com/2014/06/25/source-da...ft-in-hot-car/

Ah you beat me to it.

[AndaliteBandit]

May not be an accident after all. Seems he had been looking up how long an animal can survive in a hot car.

http://wreg.com/2014/06/25/source-da...ft-in-hot-car/

Are they sure it wasn't this video, that's been making the rounds on facebook and the like? You can see in the stats that the views have rocketed within the past month.

[Deleted]

if he did leave him locked up on purpose then it goes without saying that no punishment is too harsh for this crime. death penalty - you betcha.