These kind of stories are so sad to me.

It wasn't a murder charge. It was negligent homicide, which is exactly what it was. Had he not left his young children unattended in a vehicle the child would not be dead. It is absolutely a fitting verdict.

People need to be more careful and use basic common sense, when it comes to kids and animals, being left alone in a car.

Heck, I know people who leave 2-year olds alone in the bathtub. Which is plain dumb.

So tragic!  I can't imagine coming outside to discover that.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karen1985 

It wasn't a murder charge. It was negligent homicide, which is exactly what it was. Had he not left his young children unattended in a vehicle the child would not be dead. It is absolutely a fitting verdict.

I have to agree. 

I also agree that while it is tragic there is the neglectful aspect too which is why they have that charge in the first place. You didn't mean to, but were neglectful and it happened.

I find this story chilling ... not because the dad left the kids in the car, but I have to wonder what the 4-yr old was doing during all this.

4-yr old kids are pretty "with it". My 4-yr old could unroll an electric window. Were the kids playing with the windows and the 4-yr old didn't realize that the game could be fatal? Was the 4-yr old really just sitting there while the 2-yr old choked to death? Did the 4-yr old jump out of one of the other doors to go get daddy? Did dad have the ability to switch off the rear window controls? Did he? Did the children play with the driver's side window?

There is so much to this story that isn't in the article. However, the 4-yr old will always have a memory of that day and is really the only one who knows what really went on. THAT is the person who has to live with the guilt and that is a life-altering heavy burden for one so young to bear. Plus imagine growing up with mom and dad knowing that you didn't save your sibling, or perhaps even caused the death.

I'm wondering why the 2 year old wasn't strapped in a car seat.

Good point, of course, the same applies to the 4-yr old.

My kids are almost 6 and 2 and I would never ever leave them in the car like that, going inside a building where they are out of view. And, yes, why wasn't the 2 year old restrained in a car seat? Being the neglectful kind of person that would leave his kids alone like that, makes me wonder if there even was an appropriate seat for the toddler. And, I agree, what happened with the 4 year old? So so scary!

My big question is why the heck did he leave the keys in the ignition??  If I ever walk away from my kids in the car, like at the gas station when I step inside to pay, I always lock the doors and take my keys with me, even though they are both safely in car seats and I am all of 10-20 feet away.  It really makes no sense that he wouldn't at least lock the doors and take the keys. 

Makes me wonder if he was drunk or high, there are so many levels of neglect and not thinking straight.