Is Your Child DYING while You are SHOPPING?
Is Your Child DYING while You are SHOPPING?
Children left in cars
Studies show that at least 25 children die each year as a result of being left alone in hot vehicles. One Detroit mother left her two years old in the car for four hours while she got her hair done. Another mother left an infant in a car seat to go have drinks at the bar. A third decided to leave a four year old and a three year old while she shopped inside a Trader Joes.
What parents don’t realize is that there are many dangers involving leaving a child alone in a car.
"Infants don't have the temperature regulation you have as an adult," Says Chris Bengivengo, a Lietutenat for the . St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue "They are much more sensitive to variations in the temperature than we are." It doesn't take long for an infant in such heat to be subject to heat stroke and seizures, which lead to brain damage or even death.
But leaving the car running and cool is not the answer.
"Half the time we go out for a child locked in a vehicle, the car is still running and the doors locked when they closed up the car," Bengivengo said. "You get there and try to coach the child to lift the lock from the inside or push the button. Usually the kids see it as a game" and they can't or won't unlock the car.
Chris gets TWO CALLS A WEEK from worried parents who left their child in a car and the doors got locked accidentally.
Did you know that in 2002 there were over 110 US hypothermia deaths of children left in cars? And according to USA Today, this number is no where close to the actual statistics. Many of these deaths go unreported.
The weather factor is not the only worry here. There has been hundreds of stolen vehicle incidents in which an innocent child was left unattended, sleeping in the back seat.
Then there is the issue of kidnappings. I did an internet search for “Children kidnapped from cars
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I would think they could have charged her with neglect.
Doesn't that make sense?
As a "dog person" I have the same worries about people who leave dogs in cars (which I think is also a crime here in FL).
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Brenna
Blog at Writing UP!
Brenna Fender's Blog
total neglect!!!
I think she should be investigated totally! I don't even know what an appropriate punishment would be for this though...
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i feel like people who do
i feel like people who do this, do it on purpose. people are sick. i understand mistakenly locking your child in the car. we all have locked ourselves outside of our cars or houses. but leaving your kids in the car unattended for any amount of time is just rediculous. I think these people should be charged with involuntary manslaughter at the very least.
I agree with you james!
I completely agree w/ oyu, but what should be a punishment for parents who do this? Is a $75 fine really enough?
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Did you see...
The episode of CSI where the guy locked his kid in the car? I've been a big CSI fan but that's the one epi I will never watch again.
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Brenna
Blog at Writing UP!
Brenna Fender's Blog
$75 is way too small
It is a tough call. If you make the fine too high then that sort of affects the child from a monetary standpoint and if there are criminal charges, that also affects the child by taking the parent out of the house. At least I think that is the thought behind having such a small penalty. having said that, the penalty is too small.
I think if a child dies because of this then there definitely should be some sort of murder or manslaughter charge advanced. I think that even if the child does not die, but is purposefully locked in a car, then there should be criminal charges. this type of behavior is simply unacceptable. at the very least there should be some sort of time and or conditional weather stipulations.
I only say that because if a person was ran into a 7-11 for 2 minutes and left their child in the car with the doors locked and the heat or air conditioner on depending on the weather, I cannot say that these people need to be charged. Some people may even have a problem with that.
The Car is Like a Burning Hell...
For me. so imagine what it is like for a less "adapted" one.
deorre
'Life Stew, With Psychosis
The child / car laws
The law won't affect parents who are just running into a 7/11 to grab a pop or the mom that picks up a shirt from the dry cleaners. The laws are aimed at parents like the ones described: spending 4 hours in the hair salon, drinking inside the bar.
Yea, I agree w/ deorre. I hate being left in the car. My husband is infamous for it. He;ll tell me he'll only be a minute. Then 25 minutes later he returns. I can't imagine the pain a child would go through being stuck in there for hour after hour. It's sickening.
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