North Carolina parents charged after baby dies in hot car

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I don't know how it happens either. I certainly couldn't imagine it happening to me but I bet before it happens to some parents, they'd say the same thing. They couldn't imagine it.

Ugh. It's just so damn sad.

[Janelle2002 3,865]

How many times have you driven somewhere on a weekend and gotten halfway to work without thinking?? How many times have we driven to work and not remembered the drive?? A parent who does not normally transport the child may go about their day and then have that "Oh #######!" moment a few hours into work..

Probably does not happen often but with 300 million people mmm.. a few times per year during the summer I can see it as plausible.. But I'd be checking their web searches and personal history for sure...

Forgetting a thing and forgetting one of the most perfect joys of your life are completely separate things.

I agree. I understand there are some who may genuinely make this mistake, but most of the time it is not the case.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

There is actually a very good (fictional, thank goodness) story written about this happening when one is on "autopilot"

It haunted me for weeks after reading it and I guess made me see things in a different way regarding the whole situation.

http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Autopilot

[Janelle2002 3,865]

I agree with one thing. I just don't know

Wow first day back in forever and I agree with 2 chicks. Awesome

Shocking!

[*Snowdrop* 604]

It's something that's become more common apparently since infant car seats became rear facing for the early years. Lots of cases of parents driving to work and forgetting that they have not dropped their kid off at daycare:

One suggestion is to place a big soft toy on the seat next to you that you place in the car seat when the kid is not in it - so it jogs your brain if the toy is in the front with you there is a child in the back.

Article from 2009:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html

Two decades ago, this was relatively rare. But in the early 1990s, car-safety experts declared that passenger-side front airbags could kill children, and they recommended that child seats be moved to the back of the car; then, for even more safety for the very young, that the baby seats be pivoted to face the rear. If few foresaw the tragic consequence of the lessened visibility of the child . . . well, who can blame them? What kind of person forgets a baby?

The wealthy do, it turns out. And the poor, and the middle class. Parents of all ages and ethnicities do it. Mothers are just as likely to do it as fathers. It happens to the chronically absent-minded and to the fanatically organized, to the college-educated and to the marginally literate. In the last 10 years, it has happened to a dentist. A postal clerk. A social worker. A police officer. An accountant. A soldier. A paralegal. An electrician. A Protestant clergyman. A rabbinical student. A nurse. A construction worker. An assistant principal. It happened to a mental health counselor, a college professor and a pizza chef. It happened to a pediatrician. It happened to a rocket scientist.

Last year it happened three times in one day, the worst day so far in the worst year so far in a phenomenon that gives no sign of abating.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

No parent actually forgets their child in the car? What?

No, you don't. I can't imagine how a parent could actually forget their child in the car.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

You being unable to imagine it does not stop it from being possible.

[Fan_Dancer 171]

Quite common it seems:

Foster father was using marijuana when baby left in car

The foster father charged with first-degree murder in the death of a 10-month-old girl who was left in a hot car had consumed marijuana earlier that day and went into the home to use more when he left her, District Attorney Marc Bennett said Friday.

Prosecutors think Seth Jackson was getting high during the 2 1/2 hours that the baby remained in the car on July 24, Bennett said.

John Stang, one of Jackson’s defense attorneys, said questions remain, among them: Was his client impaired at all? And if he was, was Jackson impaired at the time the child was supposed to be taken out of the car?

“I don’t know the answer to those questions,” he said.

The baby’s maternal biological grandmother, Cindy Poe, said the prosecutor’s disclosure of the drug allegation “explains everything now.” Before, the 47-year-old Topeka-area woman said she had wondered how Jackson could have forgotten to get the child out of the car after bringing her home from a baby sitter.

She said she had viewed Jackson as a loving foster father and never thought he might be suspected of using drugs, especially around children in his care, she said.

Through tears, she said, “How can he be smoking (drugs) with my baby in the car? Why would he ever do that?”

The prosecutor’s disclosure of alleged drug use came at a court hearing Friday afternoon in which Jackson’s attorneys were seeking to modify his bond.

In response to the disclosure, Phyllis Gilmore, secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families, issued the following statement.

“Should the allegations prove to be true, I am appalled that a precious, helpless child suffered such an unthinkable death while her foster parent was allegedly using drugs. We expect parents to protect and care for their children. We expect even more of our foster parents. They have a duty to put the children in their care before themselves always and provide a loving, safe environment.

“This incident is a rare exception to the otherwise strong record of foster care safety in Kansas.”

The last foster care maltreatment death was in 2006, her statement said.

“Drug use is not tolerated among our foster parents,” she said.

Gilmore said the DCF continues its investigation into the baby’s death. Foster homes sponsored by TFI, the subcontractor involved with the Jackson home, are in the process of being inspected, Gilmore said.

“Presently, no serious concerns have been discovered,” she said, adding that the DCF expects to end the moratorium on placements with TFI soon, “upon the completion of the inspections if no issues arise.”

TFI sponsors 621 foster homes in Kansas, she said. Gilmore said TFI was a former foster care contractor whose contract with the DCF was not renewed in 2013. It serves as a subcontractor of foster care services to Saint Francis Community Services and KVC Health Systems.

In court Friday, in giving some background for how prosecutors have approached the case and the bond, Bennett said that on the day of the child’s death, Jackson allegedly had been using marijuana in the morning and ran out of the drug.

Bennett also gave the following timeline.

Jackson had been transporting a 5-year-old, went to a drug dealer’s house, got more of the drug, picked up the 10-month-old from a baby sitter, returned home and went into his house in the 1500 block of South Topeka to consume more marijuana. The 5-year-old got out of the car, but the 10-month-old remained in the vehicle.

Stang, the defense attorney, said he and the other defense attorney, Leslie Hulnick, heard the marijuana allegations for the first time in court Friday afternoon.

On Wednesday, Bennett’s office charged Jackson, 29, with first-degree murder. The charge alleges the girl’s death occurred within the commission of an inherently dangerous felony, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.

The underlying crime alleged is aggravated endangerment of a child. The endangerment allegation means recklessly causing or permitting a child to be in a situation where his or her life is in danger, Bennett said Wednesday.

Also Friday, Judge Dave Dahl approved an agreement between Bennett and the defense attorneys to modify the conditions of Jackson’s $250,000 bond. The modification means basically that Jackson would have to pay less to a bondsman, perhaps $5,000 instead of $25,000, to get out of jail. If Jackson is released and doesn’t show up in court, he would ultimately be liable for the full $250,000.

Stang said he expected Jackson to be released Friday night.

Dahl also ruled that on or before Thursday, he would decide whether to release an affidavit that might provide more information about the allegations. The document, known as a probable cause affidavit, requires authorities to provide enough information justifying the charges. Neither the prosecutors nor the defense attorneys objected to the release of the full contents of the document.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2014/08/01/3577493/da-foster-father-using-marijuana.html#storylink=cpy

Edited August 5, 2014 by Fan_Dancer

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

All it takes is a parent in a stressful situation who is running on autopilot. These parents, the ones who truly simply make a mistake, deserve support and empathy and not to be called sickos or murderers.

Nonsense. One has got to have their priorities completely upside down for anything to be more present in their mind than their helpless little infant or toddler that wholly depends on them. As a parent I cannot fathom that there is any situation in which I would ever forget my child. And I do have my fair share of stressful situations when I am out and about with my child.

[*Snowdrop* 604]

• Child vehicular heat stroke deaths for 2014: 21

• Child vehicular heat stroke deaths for 2013: 44

• Child vehicular heat stroke deaths for 2012: 33
• Child vehicular heat stroke deaths for 2011 : 33
• Child vehicular heat stroke deaths for 2010: 49
• Child vehicular heat stroke deaths for 2009: 33
• Child vehicular heat stroke deaths through 2013: well over 719
• Average number of child vehicular heat stroke deaths per year since 1998: 38 (one every 9 days)
• The highest number of fatalities for a one-year time period took place in 2010: 49

Unknowingly left in vehicle: 54.25% • Knowingly left in vehicle: 11.94%

• Got into vehicle on their own: 31.58% • Circumstance Unknown: 1.82%

Children who have died from vehicular hyperthermia in the United States (1998‐2010) have ranged in age from 5 days

to 14 years. Thirty‐one percent (31%) of hyperthermia deaths involve children under the age of one‐year. In most

states, infants are required to ride in rear‐facing infant seats, in the back seat of a vehicle. Rear‐facing infant seats do

not look any different from the front seat if they are occupied or empty, which can cause a parent to think the child is

no longer in the car with them.

http://www.kidsandcars.org/heatstroke.html

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

You being unable to imagine it does not stop it from being possible.

Even if it is possible - and I am not saying that it is - a parent that causes the death of their child ought to be brought up on charges. Criminally negligent homicide at a minimum. That's if you can truly demonstrate how you actually forgot your child in the car.

I don't buy into this notion that these parents are already grief stricken and should not be brought up on charges. They should. It's no different than when a child hurts or kills him/herself or others with a loaded weapon that was left accessible to that child by the parents. Parents ought to be held to account for that. There's a responsibility that comes with being a parent and it's damn time that people learn to live up to it.

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

There is actually a very good (fictional, thank goodness) story written about this happening when one is on "autopilot"

It haunted me for weeks after reading it and I guess made me see things in a different way regarding the whole situation.

http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Autopilot

Awesome read, thanks for the link.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

There is actually a very good (fictional, thank goodness) story written about this happening when one is on "autopilot"

It haunted me for weeks after reading it and I guess made me see things in a different way regarding the whole situation.

http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Autopilot

Fictional and not particularly credible or convincing. That one would continuously think about one's freaking phone that one forgot at home and not once for the entire day about one's child is just not conceivable. At all.

[*Snowdrop* 604]

There is actually a very good (fictional, thank goodness) story written about this happening when one is on "autopilot"

It haunted me for weeks after reading it and I guess made me see things in a different way regarding the whole situation.

http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Autopilot

Here is a true story from one mother who this happened to. She campaigns now to prevent this happening to others:

http://www.kidsandcars.org/bryce-balfour.html

Edited August 5, 2014 by *Lynne*

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I can only speak for myself as a parent, but I can't see how you forget your child is in the car.