Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Why does this keep happening? UPDATED

UPDATE: the article I linked to below is actually from 2003. Sorry. The story Mr. Spock told me about is here. I apologize for the error. But it actually makes my point even more valid. This still keeps happening, people.

Today my Mr. Spock told me about yet another child who died after being left in a car. According to the article there were 36 in 2003 alone.

Here's the thing. How does this happen? How can a person NOT BE AWARE that there is a baby or toddler in the car with them? DON'T THEY CHECK? It's not like this isn't publicised EVERY FLIPPING TIME IT HAPPENS!

It's hot out. Every time I get out of the car, I check. EVERY TIME. Before I lock the car, I check again. EVERY TIME.

Okay. End of rant. For now.

10 comments:

Liz Miller said...

I check even when I know he can't be in the car with me, 'cause I can see him getting out of Mr. Spock's car.

Yankee, Transferred said...

It is beyond me. Totally beyond me. And can you imagine being THAT parent? The one whose kid died like that? A sentence unto itself.

jo(e) said...

That kind of story used to give me nightmares when my kids were little. I still obsessively check my back seat when I get out of my car ... and my youngest child is ten.

I do wonder if drugs or alcohol are involved in some of these cases. It's rare to really get the whole story when you read something in the newspaper.

Liz Miller said...

Perhaps they should put child safety on the driver's license exams....Aw, who am I kidding? People don't even use their turn signals.

purple_kangaroo said...

We went to get a pizza one time, and I stayed in the car with the kids while DH went in to get the take-n-bake.

The whole time he was in the store, two little kids (the oldest was probably between the ages of 3 and 5) in the next car were screaming and screaming, just panicked at being left alone in a locked minivan.

As soon as DH got back to stay with our kids, I started going in to all the stores around there, trying to find out whose kids they were. Nobody would claim them.

DH and I sat in the car for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do, and were about to call the police when a woman who had been standing in line at the ice cream parlor came out, got into the van, and started YELLING at the kids.

She had outright told me they weren't her kids and then finished her shopping before even coming out to check on them. DH and I were livid. We really wished we'd written downt he license plate number before she left, still yelling at the kids.

Anonymous said...

Those stories really make me angry! To the EXTREME! There was a 2 weeks old baby that died several years ago in the area near where I grew up. The mother left it in the car while she played poker machines ... for 12 hours!!!! She was convicted on several charges. She laid the blame on her gambling addiciton. These people do not deserve to have children. I think they should suffer the same fate -locked in an overheating car for hours up hours until they collapse, then let them live with what they have done being reminded over and over how their child died.

Liz Miller said...

I'm with you on that one, angie. Truly, I'm anti-death-penalty, but people who kill children through SHEER STUPIDITY and apathy really, really make me want to personally strangle them.

Anonymous said...

The one that made me see red the most was a local father of 13 who did this, and then blamed it on his older child (17 yr. old) who was "in charge" of making sure the kids were out of the car.

What a horrible thing to use as a defense. What a horrendous thing to do to your children.

Liz Miller said...

Yes, it was truly horrible. I don't remember how long his sentence was, but it wasn't long enough.

Hey genevieve, I'm local to that story too!

Julie said...

Ugh. A professor killed his infant that way on the university campus where I used to work. I remember seeing all these cops and news crews and wondering what was going on. The baby had been asleep in the back, and he forgot/didn't know it was there. I'm still haunted by it.