Baby left in hot car could be a murder . :(

[whatdidyousay!]

Once you put a baby in your car, it's impossible to forget about the baby since the baby is human. I believe that it's a premeditated murder since the cops found the evidence that the mother looked for info on children's death in hot vehicles online before it happened.

Fact Sheet - Heatstroke Deaths of Children in Vehicles


So far this year 13 babies dies from being left in a hot car. That one too many. Sadly this happen too many times and if I see a car with it windows cracked open and it hot I will look to see if there a living person or dog left in there. I do not care what other people think , I am concerned for the safety of a child or dog or an old person . This is who I am and I am not going to stop being this way.

 

[Foxrac]

Not necessarily. I looked at some strangers' new cars and was curious what it looked like inside, not meaning that I want to carjack them. There are many people doing that factually without carjacking.

Are you looking for guns in car? Call Feinstein and CHP if you find one.

 

[CrazyPaul]

Are you looking for guns in car? Call Feinstein and CHP if you find one.

Yeah, you are still unbelievably obsessed with me.

 

[Foxrac]

Yeah, you are still unbelievably obsessed with me.

Yes because you are one of most favorite member in AD forum.

 

[CrazyPaul]

Fact Sheet - Heatstroke Deaths of Children in Vehicles


So far this year 13 babies dies from being left in a hot car. That one too many. Sadly this happen too many times and if I see a car with it windows cracked open and it hot I will look to see if there a living person or dog left in there. I do not care what other people think , I am concerned for the safety of a child or dog or an old person . This is who I am and I am not going to stop being this way.

It doesn't show how long the babies were inside the cars. For example, you left a baby in the car while you went shopping. You even knew the baby was there but you thought it was okay for an hour or so. That's still totally unacceptable but you didn't mean to murder him/her. That's child negligence. Of course you must be punished for it.

 

[CrazyPaul]

Yes because you are one of most favorite member in AD forum.

OK, I take it. I enjoy being picked on, even though I feel no challenge from you or everyone else. Hopefully Mark can take it, too.

 

[Foxrac]

OK, I take it. I enjoy being picked on, even though I feel no challenge from you or everyone else. Hopefully Mark can take it, too.

Same here, some members pick on me.

I'm moving to CA after finish with college due to climate and IT jobs.

 

[Mewtilation]

There was a law passed in North Carolina awhile back that allows firefighters/law enforcement or public service to break a window of a vehicle to rescue an animal left locked up in hot weather I think it would be safe to do the same if a baby or young child was left in a vehicle as well. I would either way.

Yes, there are certain laws in places that allow the emergency entry into a vehicle to save a persons or animals life if you believe it to be in danger without legal repercussions to you. I know a good while back there was a case here in Tampa ( Years and years ago ) Where a woman had shattered a mans car window for leaving his dog in his car in a mall parking-lot. The dog was laying down and panting. She waiting for 30 minutes before shattering the window. retrieved the dog, gave him water. The man came out and lost it and sued the woman for damages. In court she won, did not have to pay for damages and he was prosecuted for animal cruelty. It was a pretty awesome case. I was very happy to see he results go that way... it gets hot here in Florida! That was a dog... imagine a child... I would immediately bust out a window, I wouldn't even wait at all for either, that's just ridiculous.

 

[Reba]

Not necessarily. I looked at some strangers' new cars and was curious what it looked like inside, not meaning that I want to carjack them. There are many people doing that factually without carjacking.

If I saw someone in a parking lot looking into cars, I would notify security. In fact, I did do that once.

In this case, the father had his car parked at work. It would be very odd for his co-workers to be peering into all the parked cars as they went to work.

If people see someone peering into parked cars they think that the person either wants to steal the car or steal items that are left inside the car.

 

[shel90]

HUH ? You have to be joking ! I am a 67 years old woman that walk with cane and you think I would even try to carjack a other person car. People leave their dogs in a hot car all the times and if I see that happening I have some one call the cops for me and there is always someone that will do it. A cop told one person they would fined if they left their dog in a hot car again.
The cop was not worried about me doing anything wrong.

I am teasing you! I know that you wont carjack people's cars. I don't think anyone here on AD wants to do something like that.

 

[whatdidyousay!]

There was a law passed in North Carolina awhile back that allows firefighters/law enforcement or public service to break a window of a vehicle to rescue an animal left locked up in hot weather I think it would be safe to do the same if a baby or young child was left in a vehicle as well. I would either way.

I had g/f who father broke a window in car b/c someone left their dog in it when it was very hot out. This was years ago and there was no laws to protect dogs from being left in a hot car.

 

[shel90]

There was a law passed in North Carolina awhile back that allows firefighters/law enforcement or public service to break a window of a vehicle to rescue an animal left locked up in hot weather I think it would be safe to do the same if a baby or young child was left in a vehicle as well. I would either way.

I would go ahead and break in the cars if there is a animal or baby in there suffering regardless if my state has that law or not.

 

[AlleyCat]

I would go ahead and break in the cars if there is a animal or baby in there suffering regardless if my state has that law or not.

I would too. I've never encountered that situation yet, but I would save a child or animal if I saw something like this. I would worry about the consequences later.

 

[whatdidyousay!]

Yes, there are certain laws in places that allow the emergency entry into a vehicle to save a persons or animals life if you believe it to be in danger without legal repercussions to you. I know a good while back there was a case here in Tampa ( Years and years ago ) Where a woman had shattered a mans car window for leaving his dog in his car in a mall parking-lot. The dog was laying down and panting. She waiting for 30 minutes before shattering the window. retrieved the dog, gave him water. The man came out and lost it and sued the woman for damages. In court she won, did not have to pay for damages and he was prosecuted for animal cruelty. It was a pretty awesome case. I was very happy to see he results go that way... it gets hot here in Florida! That was a dog... imagine a child... I would immediately bust out a window, I wouldn't even wait at all for either, that's just ridiculous.

The cop came right now to Market Basket parking lot when I had someone call for the dog left in the hot car . I knew the cop this a small city and she was telling their was fine and plus you could go to jail for animal cruelty for leaving a dog in a hot car. That was so cool that woman won the case.

 

[shel90]

After leaving child in car, 'that pain never goes away' - CNN.com



(CNN) -- Lyn Balfour promised her son, limp in her arms, that she would never let it happen to another parent. She vowed to her baby she would tell every mother, every father, everyone who has had the responsibility of caring for a child. That's all she could do now.

She would be the world's horrific reminder that people can and do leave their children in hot cars.

"The pain -- it's not like a normal death in your family where you lose a child ... you get to grieve and move on," Balfour said, her voice cracking. "That pain is every day. It's always there. It never goes away."

Leaving a child in a car seems unfathomable to many. Isn't a child a caregiver's priority at all times? What kind of person just forgets? If you are quick to say, 'I could never,' consider that people who devote their lives to studying these incidents say that anyone of any age or profession is liable to do it. So are people who are educated and not, rich, poor or middle class, mothers as much as fathers. It happens more than one might think: about three to four times a month in the United States. Criminal charges can vary widely from case to case.

On Thursday, a suburban Atlanta dad whose toddler died after he left him in a car for seven hours on a sweltering summer day will appear in court. Justin Ross Harris faces murder and second-degree child cruelty charges.

It has been seven years since Balfour forgot her 9-month-old Bryce in her backseat while she spent hours at work. That morning she was rushing to deal with an emergency at her Charlottesville, Virginia, job. Her routine was off. She normally dropped Bryce off at day care.

But that day she had tucked the 9-month-old in a car seat directly behind her driver's seat, rather than his usual spot behind the passenger seat. She parked, got out and went inside to work.

About 4 p.m., the sitter called her to see how Bryce was doing.

Balfour paused. She was confused. Wasn't the baby with his sitter?

"No, Lyn, you didn't drop him off this morning," the babysitter answered.

Stunned, realizing what she'd done, Balfour ran to her car. She started CPR on Bryce.

The mother's cries for help would be heard on a 911 call later played in court, but it was too late.

Overheated, Bryce died.

How often does it happen?

At least 44 children died in 2013 from heatstroke caused by being left in cars in the United States, according to national nonprofit organization KidsAndCars.org. At least 13 children have died this year for the same reason. Over the past decade, the group figures, there have been at least 388 children who have died of vehicular heatstroke.

KidsAndCars bases its data on U.S. news reports, and when it's possible, the group's volunteers confirm the information independently with law enforcement, attorneys and families, director Amber Rollins said.

Rollins said she's unaware of any group that tracks the number of children worldwide who have died after being left inside vehicles.

The group hears from parents who reach out after years of living in silent shame about the time they forgot their child in a car, she said.

Balfour works with KidsAndCars now, and recounts her story on its website.

During a recent interview with CNN's Brooke Baldwin, Balfour recalled learning on the day of her son's funeral that she would be prosecuted for his death.

Charged with second-degree murder, Balfour could have gone to prison for 40 years, according to the Washington Post, which told her story and others involving caregivers who left their children in cars.






Watch this video


Will Justin Harris be released on bail?

A jury listened to the mother's 911 call, her voice full of panic and horror.

They found her not guilty.

"I never made excuses for his death," she said. "It was my lapse in responsibility ... why he's not here."

Over the years, Balfour has gone over and over in her head how she could have done it. She is a person skilled at doing many things at once. She's a former service member with one tour in Bosnia and two tours in Iraq and a professional who, she says, won a Bronze Star for managing tens of millions of dollars in projects.

On KidsAndCars, Balfour wrote of that day: "I am in shock and overcome in disbelief that this cannot be happening to me, I cannot be the type of mother who would accidentally forget her child. ..."

Who would do such a thing?

A mother is just as likely as a father to leave her child in a vehicle, the Post reported.

The people who have done it range in age and financial and educational background, experts say. A veterinarian, a doctor, a dentist, a professor, a school principal and a rocket scientist are among the parents who have accidentally forgotten about their children and are now among KidsAndCars' members.

It doesn't matter if a person is highly organized or often absentminded, though people with intense demands in their lives can have more stress and be more sleep-deprived -- two factors that can increase the likelihood their minds could be sidetracked away from a baby in the backseat, said David Diamond, a psychology and molecular physiology professor at University of South Florida.

He studies memory, and for a decade has focused his attention on a phenomena that's come to be known as Forgotten Baby Syndrome. He, too, said he wasn't aware of any international figures on how many children have died after being left in vehicles.

Diamond wrote recently on HLNTV.com that Forgotten Baby Syndrome, is a "failure of prospective memory, which refers to the planning and execution of an action in the future."

Two brain structures process prospective memory: the hippocampus, which stores new information, and the prefrontal cortex, which enables planning, he wrote. The hippocampus processes that a child is in a car. The prefrontal cortex enables a person to create a route, factoring in a change in plans like going to day care rather than going directly to work.

Forgotten Baby Syndrome seems to involve a "clash between prospective memory and another form of memory, referred to as habit memory," he wrote. "Habit memory is formed subconsciously through repeated activities, such as learning how to ride a bike or, in the case of FBS, repeatedly driving to and from home and work."

Read Diamond's Op-Ed about FBS

Lately, Rollins has noticed a greater awareness of how diligent, loving caregivers forget their children in cars. More people who have gone through the experience seem willing to discuss it, she said. They're opening up online, particularly in the comments section of news stories.

"More people seem to be saying, 'Hey, this happened to me, this can happen to wonderful parents,'" Rollins said.

After the hot car death of the Georgia toddler in June, CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin wrote about how she and her husband accidentally left their infant daughter in a hot car during a shopping trip.

They realized the mistake minutes into a shopping trip, and ran to the car, she said in a CNN.com Opinion piece.

"Walking into the garden center, my husband turned to me and said: 'My God. We left Paloma in the car.' I screamed, dropped my purse, ran to the car and opened the door. The car was already warm. Her face already flushed. But she was fine and still sleeping. I was ashamed, embarrassed and horrified at what I had done.

"It dawned on me immediately -- I could have killed my girl," she wrote.

Hostin's daughter wasn't hurt.

Had Hostin never experienced what it was like to forget her own child, she would have said that all parents must be prosecuted for an act like that.

"I punish myself all the time for leaving my girl in that car for a few minutes," she wrote.

Read Hostin's story: 'I, too, left my child in a hot car'

What charges have caregivers faced?

When parents go to court after leaving their children in hot cars, the outcomes can vary greatly.

Daniel Gray was recently sentenced to four years in prison for the death of his infant, who was left in a car for three hours during a hot Arizona summer, according to the Arizona Republic.

Gray pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

In April, authorities arrested Eric Fred Carlin in Florida for allegedly leaving his 9-month-old son in a hot car for 20 minutes.

The baby survived, but Carlin was charged with child neglect without great bodily harm and unattended child in a motor vehicle in excess of 15 minutes, CNN affiliate WPTV said.

In March, investigators charged Shanesha Taylor of Arizona with felony child abuse after she allegedly left her children in her vehicle while she went on a job interview.

Recently, Taylor spoke publicly for the first time about what happened, giving details of her life to a New York Times reporter.

Without childcare options, Taylor said she chose to leave her kids in her car so she could go to an interview for a job that she needed to pull herself out of poverty.

Taylor parked in a Scottsdale lot. There was no shade, and it was 71 degrees, the newspaper reported. Attributing to a police report, the Times said Taylor left her sons in their car seats, cracked her car's tinted windows and left the keys in the ignition with the fan on but the engine off.

In 10 minutes, a car can heat up 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and cracking a window does little to keep a car cool; a child's body temperature can rise up to five times faster than an adult's, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Many who felt passionately about Taylor's case spoke out on social media. While some viewed her as a criminal who should be prosecuted, others saw her as a desperate single mother and a symbol of Americans suffering in a terrible economy.

She is out of jail on $9,000 bond, according to Jerry Cobb, a spokesman for Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

Taylor has pleaded not guilty.

How can accidents be prevented?

KidsAndCars has tips on how to keep the unthinkable from happening. Place something you'll need, such as a cell phone, handbag or briefcase, near the child in the back seat. Keep a large stuffed animal in the child's car seat when it's not occupied.

When the child is in the car seat, put the stuffed animal in the front passenger seat to remind you that the child is in the back. Tell a child's day care center or babysitter that they will always be called if your child isn't coming in as scheduled. If the child is absent without an explanation, the day care center or babysitter is expected to contact a parent or another designated caregiver.

Those human tricks may be the best available options for caregivers. Technology, by and large, doesn't seem to have caught up to the problem yet.






Watch this video


Could car seat monitors stop tragedies?

Pam D'Angio with Texas-based Baby Alert International is trying to change that. The company has designed the ChildMinder Infant-Toddler Elite Pad System. It's essentially a sensor under an infant or child safety seat that is activated by a child's weight. If someone tries to get out of the car without removing the infant, an alarm sounds on a key fob, she said.

CNN's Gary Tuchman tested the product with a Sugar Land, Texas, family. The ChildMinder appeared to work.

But Tuchman noted that products like the ChildMinder are not foolproof. Batteries go low. Someone might not hear the alarm.

And two years ago, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a study that deemed devices intended to prevent infant car heatstroke deaths "inconsistent and unreliable."

Researchers noted numerous concerns, CNN reported in 2012. Some devices required caregivers to situate a child a certain way within a restraint. Others stop functioning when they get wet and cell phone interference hinders some, the report said. In its analysis -- the first of its kind -- the government stressed that the devices should not be the sole option for caregivers trying to avoid accidentally forgetting their child in a car.

Memory expert Diamond argues that products like the ChildMinder could at least be a good start.

A parent himself, he turned his attention to the topic of parents forgetting their children in cars when he was horrified by a news story about a Florida dentist whose son died in a hot car.

"The bottom line is that there hasn't been sufficient government funding to address this," he said. "You put a man on the moon but you can't detect a child in a car? If there were funding, there would be technology."

Diamond said in his car a sensor on the passenger side door rings if he puts a bag of groceries or something relatively heavy there.

"If we can figure that out," he said. "We can come up with something to tell us if our child is still in the car."

Hot-car death highlights key role of digital evidence

It can happen to any of us.

 

[Frisky Feline]

It's not an easy to remind when kids specially small ones with us. I forget for a second while i was driving on the roads, when i had so many things on my mind. Then I realize something that is missing, and realize that baby is in the back. I had to look into the mirror and my kid was there. that was a scary feelings.

 

[Foxrac]

Be careful about attempting to break the car windows if you see child or dog in my state because you can get shot by armed drivers or strangers that think you are trying to steal the car.

For me, I rather to call police department or ask strangers to get their attention to do everything.

Our state is strong gun culture and many people carry gun concealed.

 

[CrazyPaul]

I saw Nancy Grace on TV reporting that the surveillance camera showed the father bringing the kid to Chick-Fil-a and putting him back afterwards on the way to work. How could he forget like that?

 

[CrazyPaul]

If I saw someone in a parking lot looking into cars, I would notify security. In fact, I did do that once.

In this case, the father had his car parked at work. It would be very odd for his co-workers to be peering into all the parked cars as they went to work.

If people see someone peering into parked cars they think that the person either wants to steal the car or steal items that are left inside the car.

I was talking about brand new cars. For example, I never saw a brand new car before like Testa (full electric car) and I was curious how nice the dashboard looked so I looked at it through the window for a few seconds. Nothing wrong with that. What's more, at work the owner laughed when she saw me looking at her NICE brand new Lexus as well as looking through the window and she knew that I was drooling over it. She didn't suspect anything at all.

Oh, if you are familiar with "Pimped-out" cars, many people take a look around them and through the window.

 

[Foxrac]

I was talking about brand new cars. For example, I never saw a brand new car before like Testa (full electric car) and I was curious how nice the dashboard looked so I looked at it through the window for a few seconds. Nothing wrong with that. What's more, at work the owner laughed when she saw me looking at her NICE brand new Lexus as well as looking through the window and she knew that I was drooling over it. She didn't suspect anything at all.

Oh, if you are familiar with "Pimped-out" cars, many people take a look around them and through the window.

Typical Californians.