Ohio toddler left in car 8 hours dies and mother might not be charged…
I read the first news of the death of a two year old over on Columbuser, so I looked for more information on this story and found Girl in car for 8 hours. I’m sure those of you who were so outraged over our Mayor and his leaving Scout in the car for 45 minutes will really be upset at this part of the story:
Police weren’t ready to state publicly Friday how Cecelia came to be left in the car, but Clermont County Prosecutor Don White said: “I’m certain that whatever happened was an accident. The question is whether or not that’s something that needs to be prosecuted.”
Gary Brooks, superintendent of the West Clermont school district said he believes it was a tragic accident.“The important thing is to let this play out through the prosecutor’s office and really surround the family with love and support, irrespective of where you are with your blame,” Brooks said. “It seems unfathomable at one level that it can happen, but I think if people honestly examine their lives, it’s something that could happen to anyone.”
Prosecutors and police will try to determine whether what happened amounts to child endangering or even involuntary manslaughter, White said.
The public will likely be divided on that, White said.
“We want to do what’s right,” White said. “The impact that has on public opinion is not a consideration.”
I’m waiting to see how they assume that someone could “accidentally” leave a child in a car for almost 8 hours, she remembered to stop and get doughnuts and take them in, yet forgot her child.
Good Lord! What is wrong with people? I agree Lisa..no way you could forget your child for 8 hours. At the very least..if the “mother” has any other children, she should loose them. I beleive this is child abuse and negligent homicide. Unless of course she planned it.
Either way, a lengthy prison sentence is in order.
August 25th, 2007 at 12:09 amI have to disagree. Parents can and do forget their children — this is far from the first example of this happening. It has also happened that bus drivers have overlooked children on buses, ending their workshift without checking the vehicle.
I have relatives who stopped at a service station while on a family vacation years ago. Everyone got out, stretched their legs, used the bathroom. Then the family hit the road again, leaving behind one of the kids. They were 300 miles down the road before they realized what they’d done and turned around to go back and get him. He was fine.
When I was a little kid my parents dropped me at the movies while they went to play bridge. After the game they went home and went to bed, completely forgetting about me in that theater. The movie was over, the crowd had gone home, and only the theater owner and I were sitting on the seats inside the front door, waiting. And waiting. Finally the owner called my house and awakened my parents. And no, they were not neglectful. They weren’t drunk. They just forgot.
For me it was particularly boring because the movie was Gone With the Wind, which had an intermission, but when that word came on the screen I was too young to read it and thought it said the movie was over, so I spent the second half of the movie sitting in the lobby, waiting for my parents to arrive. And they did, eventually.
But other stories that start like this don’t have such happy endings; they turn tragic like this current one. Several times I’ve read about people who just skip the dropping-the-child-off-at-daycare part of their daily routine, and exactly what happened this time happened in those instances, too. I don’t know how a parent ever recovers from something like that or copes with the horrible loss. This woman was an assistant principal at a school. Others saw the child in the car and got help but it was too late. Once the mom found out what she’d done, she ended up in the hospital.
Even in the incident that Brian Schwartz brought up here in an exchange with Maggie, what happened to the kids was thought to have been accidental — and alcohol may have been a factor — when the little kids were left in a hot car.
The difference in the Carty situation was that what he did, he did on purpose, and then repeated it even after the experts sent out warnings against it loud ‘n clear.
August 25th, 2007 at 1:09 amI’m sorry Lily but I’ve never forgotten any of my children anywhere, I’ve forgotten material objects but never a child. I don’t even know anyone in my family who has forgotten a baby, or even any friends who have ever forgotten they left a toddler in a car. Have people lost a child temporarily in a store? Yes, but that’s a bit different scenario than driving to work and forgetting you left your child in a car for 8 hours.
Sure, Carty did it on purpose, which is why the windows were down and Scout didn’t die…Even the incident Brian brought up, while it may have been said to be “accidental” that’s not an accident, an accident is something that could not be avoided, it’s very hard to say under any scenario that any child left in a car was unavoidable. Considering people felt that Scout should be taken away from the Mayor, this should be considered a bit more serious.
August 25th, 2007 at 1:33 ama few mintues.. ok
30 mintues… fine
an HOUR… now were pushing it
but to leave your child in the car for 8 hours is absolutely ridiculous and irresponsible. The weather outside is too humid for any child to handle.
She should go to jail for a long time…
August 25th, 2007 at 3:20 amAn “Accident” is when you fall down an elevator shaft, an “Accident” is when you accidentally Douche with Draino. This was no accident..this was negligence that resulted in the death of a 2 year old child.
August 25th, 2007 at 8:15 amIt sure appears from the Prosecutor’s statements that the case is closed before it is even tried.
There sure is some level of negligence involved in this.
August 25th, 2007 at 8:43 amThis woman is an assistant principal at a middle school. The car, a Mercedes SUV, sat in the school parking lot for 8 hours while that two year old little girl died a horrible death, strapped in a car seat so she couldn’t even bang on a window to get somebody’s attention. I think the mother’s guilt will be a great punishment, but I also think she needs punishment from society, too. That’s why we have the charge of “negligent homicide.” I wonder what else she might “forget” when dealing with a school full of children.
August 25th, 2007 at 10:06 amOMG!!!!!!!!! Muffet..thanks for the info on the (hack) Mother’s job. In a freaking school parking lot no less…lovely!
August 25th, 2007 at 10:39 amI am appalled and outraged (in my head) by Lily’s ignorant response: “I have to disagree. Parents can and do forget their children — this is far from the first example of this happening. It has also happened that bus drivers have overlooked children on buses, ending their workshift without checking the vehicle.”
Yea…like a BIG WHATEVER…you do NOT and no one SHALL NOT ever forget their children. Lord!
August 25th, 2007 at 10:40 amRockets Man, you misread me entirely. I’m not giving the mom a pass on this, but I am saying something I know from having seen it happen in my own family: people do forget where their children are. I’m not saying it’s okay; just that it does happen.
If, say, the mom had forgotten to take her coffee off the roof of her car before she drove away, we’d know that’s possible and we’d not come at the matter with emotions blazing because we put no value on a cup of coffee. But we put a whale of a lot of value on an innocent child’s life and the natual inclination to blame and be furious and want severe punishment inflicted kicks in — so much so, it seems to blind some to the fact that people are not perfect, and that they don’t necessarily have evil intent when the tragedy happens. They could simply be terribly negligent.
By the way, there was a case a few years ago where a parent placed not just coffee, but a baby (in its carrier) on the car, forgot, then drove off. The baby & carrier landed in the road and all ended okay.
Lisa, just because you never did such a thing and know no one who did doesn’t negate the fact that it happens. Your definition of an accident is not quite right (the “unavoidable” criteria you attach to it).
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/accident
August 25th, 2007 at 11:35 amI’ve read a lot of stories about single mothers who–after being told they would lose their jobs if they failed to show up–left their children in cars, checking on them during breaks and giving them juice / trying to keep them cool with battery-operated fans. Surely this woman could have made some other arrangements given her position at the school. I don’t know all the other issues surrounding this story and I do not have children of my own, but I really do not understand how a mother could leave her child in the car for even 5 minutes–let alone 8 hours.
August 25th, 2007 at 3:36 pmMelissa, I’ve read several articles about this event and not one has indicated that this woman left her child in the car on purpose. But, like you, I too have read about women who have left their kids in the car while they’re at work because they saw no other way of handling their childcare needs.
The worst thing I’ve read in this regard was about a young mom who wanted to visit her boyfriend who lived in another town. She had a babysitter lined up for her 16-month-old baby girl, but at the last minute the babysitter backed out. So what did the mom do? She went ahead with her trip. She was gone quite a while — I think it was around two weeks. She simply left her baby in the crib, all alone. The baby died, of course. When I read about that case, I had nightmares for days afterward. I couldn’t shake off thinking about how that baby’s life just ebbed away via dehydration and starvation.
August 25th, 2007 at 4:58 pmFrom what I have read locally (and I live in the area), she forgot her. She went in to a meeting at 7:15 and was there all day. The little girl couldn’t be seen easily due to tinted windows. She was discovered, dead, at about 3:15, by someone pulling into the parking space next to her.
As someone said in a letter to the editor in the Cincinnati Enquirer today, if you had a briefcase with a million dollars in cash in your car, you wouldn’t forget about it.
This is the 39th child to die in the US this summer by being left in a hot car. The temp probably got up to almost 150 in that Mercedes SUV with the tinted windows. I also read that 39% of those happened because somebody forgot the child was there.
Involuntary manslaughter or child endangerment are the charges being considered, I heard. If you forget and leave a child in a bathtub, going to answer the phone, and the child drowns, what charge is it? Surely, leaving your child in a hot vehicle, forgetting her, to go to an all day meeting where you have the first presentation, is just as serious. It was 98 degrees that day here in the neighborhood.
August 25th, 2007 at 4:58 pm“The little girl couldn’t be seen easily due to tinted windows.”
“She was discovered, dead, at about 3:15, by someone pulling into the parking space next to her.”
Why doesn’t this seem to make sense?
August 25th, 2007 at 6:09 pmApparently, the person who pulled in right next to the car, could see in because she was close to the windows. It was difficult to see anything inside the car from a distance. If there had not been tinted windows, perhaps someone could have seen her while simply walking into the school, even from across the lot.
Make sense now?
August 25th, 2007 at 6:21 pmMuffet, please keep us updated about whether the mom is charged.
That 39% number you supplied is stunning. I recall one case I read about a year or two ago where the dad left a child in the car. He didn’t normally take the baby to daycare, but that day was filling in for mom, then went off to work like always following his usual routine and not remembering the baby was in the car. It was another case with a tragic outcome.
August 25th, 2007 at 7:08 pm“Make sense now?”
No!
August 25th, 2007 at 7:35 pmOhio law does not permit tinted car windows to the extent that one cannot see into the vehicle.
Here are some addtional facts to consider as you determine in your mind if this woman is guilty or not. The dad was typically the one who took her to daycare, therefore it was not part of the mother’s daily routine. The child fell back asleep in the car during the ride so she wasn’t making noise that the mom might hear.
I can’t imagine that there is any punishment in the world that will be worse than living with what happened to her child.
August 25th, 2007 at 7:42 pm“determine in your mind if this woman is guilty or not”
That is something to be determined by the legal system, not the court of public opinion!
August 25th, 2007 at 7:51 pmMy husband has a Honda CR-V. The windows in the back only are tinted. You cannot see into the windows unless you are right next to the car. It is not against the law. It’s the front windows which cannot be tinted.
August 25th, 2007 at 8:20 pmTint laws in Ohio.
http://www.statepatrol.ohio.gov/FAQsequipment.htm
You have to have 70% light coming in, in the front windows. It can be 50% in the windows behind the driver, but can be less if there are side mirrors.
August 25th, 2007 at 8:23 pmLLBC, what you describe is just like the incident a few years ago that I mentioned above, except it was the dad who was driving. I agree that any punishment the justice system may dole out cannot come close to what she’s already undergoing.
August 25th, 2007 at 8:55 pmRoland,
I agree with you, but clearly the posts on this thread indicate that people are holding court in “public opinion” hence the reason I used that terminology.
August 25th, 2007 at 8:59 pmMy reasoning for posting this was partly because as Muffet was kind enough to point out (Hi! to Muffet btw), the numbers of children who die from being left in a car. I understand stress, I worked as a single parent, I struggled…I was fired from jobs due to a child getting sick too often.
When the Scout scenario was discussed here there were probably close to 200 comments in all just here alone as well as media coverage with people offering to take the dog because they felt being left in a car for 45 minutes with the windows down meant that the Mayor should never be trusted with a pet. This woman has another child, should she then since this two year old was allowed to die face the same public opinion? I believe so. Yet, people here and in her town are excusing her behavior, I find that interesting given the huge outcry concerning what happened here in Toledo.
It is of course up to the legal system to determine but it appears from what is being said already that they are considering this to be an “accident”. Lily may disagree with my definition of the word accident, and I could very well have a different definition than the legal sense, but to me it is something that is unavoidable and bottom line if you leave a pet or a child in a car, that is avoidable.
August 25th, 2007 at 9:23 pm“..meant that the Mayor should never be trusted with a pet.”
Possibly station in life. The Mayor is a person elected by us to be a leader.
A mom or dad have a responsibility to themselves and to their families.
To me, father or three, it is beyond comprehension how a human being can leave another human being who is unable to care for themselves in a car in any weather for any length of time.
The tag line is that all is special and sacred and yet we are too busy, too distracted and so on and we loose another innocent life to careless and reckless behavior.
August 25th, 2007 at 9:33 pmLisa, I don’t see any similarity between this case and the one involving Scout — not if the mom in this case didn’t leave her child in the car on purpose. But if it was done on purpose, it would be similar — and I doubt anyone would then want to see her retain custody of her remaining child.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:30 amPost #18 says that having the child this time of day was not the norm. That the father usually dealt w/ the child. Well, in my mind that sets off all kinds of alarms.
If it is not a normal part of her day to take the child with her, it stands to reason she’d be far more aware of the child’s presence in the car, sleeping or not. The break to her routine, loading the kid up, straping it in…that would be the “clue”, that she had further responsibility that day.
If I were a parent of a child in that school, my kids’s last day would have been the day that woman let her child die in the car.
The ultimate lack of good judgement, responsibility and overall maternal instincts tell a lot here. I feel for the family, even the mother, what a terrible loss. The mother’s guilt is a just outcome, but not “justice”.
This woman is not only responsible for her children, she is responsible for dozens of other children in that school. What else has she “forgotten”?
If I were the father, I don’t think I could ever forgive this. What circumstances could possible be a justifying excuse for this? No rational thinking person will be able to come up with one.
August 26th, 2007 at 8:22 amI just keep going back to what the one letter writer said to the Cincinnati Enquirer: if you had a million dollars in cash in your car, you probably wouldn’t forget it.
August 26th, 2007 at 10:13 amWell, I am sure that mother learned her lesson. Maybe she’ll even leave the workforce. When your job becomes more important than your kid (unless you’re a guy) then it is time to quit. I’ve got to wonder why she didn’t take her kid into the school with her. I know there are laws, but couldn’t the school have made an exception? Too bad about the kid, but at least school was “disrupted”.
August 26th, 2007 at 10:41 amThese people who leave kids in cars are “good” workers. They’re focused on the job. They’re go-getters. They are good with the company. If the company had wanted them to have a family they would have “issued” them one. Too bad about the kid, but I’ll bet she’ll make sure the school meets the state’s testing goals. And that’s the important thing.
August 26th, 2007 at 10:47 amHere is a recent article in USA Today about child deaths in hot cars.
From the article:
“Since the mid-1990s, the number of children who died of heat exhaustion while trapped inside vehicles has risen dramatically, totaling around 340 in the past 10 years. Ironically, one reason was a change parent-drivers made to protect their kids after juvenile air-bag deaths peaked in 1995 — they put them in the back seat, where they are more easily forgotten.”
Further:
“‘When you look at overall who this is happening to, it’s some very, very, very good parents — might I say, doting parents,’ says Janette Fennell, founder and president of Kids and Cars, a non-profit group that tracks child deaths and injuries in and around automobiles.
‘But no one thinks it’s going to happen to them. I think people are lying if they say that there wasn’t one situation in raising their child that, ‘There but for the grace of God go I.””
These circumstances suggest to me that someone should be working on a technological fix (some sort of sensor/alarm system?) to prevent small children from being forgotten in cars.
August 26th, 2007 at 12:43 pmOkay, I have a very hard time with accidentally leaving a child in a car. Yes, I’m sure she didn’t purposely leave her child in there to die. But, my god, how do you forget your child like that?? People turn back around and go home to check if they think they left their stove or coffeemaker on. But, you don’t remember your child?. I am just stunned by this. I can not believe how often this happens. That poor child died a horrible death. Should she be sent to prison for murder? No. But, I think something has to happen.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:11 pmI also agree with Jerry, that some type of sensor/alarm system is a great idea.
Back in July, this was written about on CNN:
Devices exist to keep kids from dying in cars, but few are sold. On one of my other blogs the discussion turned to should this be legislated as a requirement with the costs passed on to all consumers or should it be advertised more as an option but voluntary.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:22 pmRe #33, thanks for the pointer–I was unaware of the devices. The Child Minder referenced in the CNN article is only $65. Perhaps the recent tragedies can serve as an impetus to getting comparable devices mandated.
August 26th, 2007 at 2:00 pmDo any of you know this mother? Do any of you know the facts? This mother will suffer horribly for the rest of her life, as will her family. Instead of blaming her and persecuting her. We need to learn from this. This was a tragic accident. What’s most improtant here is that we see how much we allow our careers to take priority over our children, or family. This mother did not purposely leave her daughter in the car. She was completely consumed and focused on the details of her career that day. Anyone who has a stressful career will agree that it can consume your thoughts. I am very fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom. No, I cannot understand how she managed to forget that she had not dropped off her daughter at day care. But, I also do not have a stressful career that consumes my thoughts…my children consume my thoughts. My heart goes out to this mother. I do not believe for one moment that she is a horrible mother. I believe she made a tragic mistake that she will he haunted by for the rest of her life. Prison won’t do anything but take her away from her other children that need her.
August 26th, 2007 at 9:08 pmChristine…
I understand your compassion here, I do. But it sounds a lot like an excuse to me. Her stressful career? A parent has a #1 job..and it’s always #1. Caring for your children is the number 1 priority and if she allowed stress, her career, or anything else stop her from that job…it was her choice.
It is a statement on society that parents are “forgetting” more and more. So what! There is no excuse for what she did, not a single one. We can blame the ills of society, the stress of a job, whatever. The facts are that a Mother or Father that leaves their child in a car for over 8 hours is not parent of the year, responsible enough to have children etc. She works with children every day.
No matter how much guilt and agony this woman suffers in her lifetime, it will NEVER outweigh the pain and sufferning that child went through in that car being cooked to death.
August 26th, 2007 at 9:24 pmLet me post another abstract from the USA Today article that I referenced before that may shed some light on how someone could forget a child in a car:
“[E]xperts say [...] that the stressed-out brain can bury a thought [...] and go on autopilot. While researchers once thought the different parts of the brain worked in conjunction with each other, they now realize that different portions dominate at different times.
‘The value of the item is not only not relevant in these competing memory systems,’ says memory expert David Diamond [...]. ‘But, in fact, we can be more complacent because we tell ourselves, ‘There’s no way I would forget my child.’”
August 27th, 2007 at 12:12 amChristine,
To be blunt about it, people need and shall think things through before bringing a child into this world. Once they do, they have to make a decision in how to support a child and be sure the child is receiving great care. It shouldn’t be the society’s problem if they are stupid enough to have a child and be irresponsible about it.
Excuses, excuses, excuses about demanding career, too much stress, my goldfish died, my credit card bill is overdue, etc, etc, etc….ACCEPT THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR CHILD period. No ifs, ands, or buts. This is why there should be mandatory education in all schools for people like this to understand the responsibility and consequences when having a child or children.
I am amazed of how many people tend to get really stupid once they forget how to use “protection”.
August 27th, 2007 at 8:23 amI think this mother really needs therapy. My mother raised 5 children, while my father worked away from home. Never once did she forget any of us. She was responsible for everything in the household, bills, household repairs and chores, helping with homework, etc. I am sure her stress level was through the roof at times, still she never forgot any of us. I don’t know if prison is the answer for this mother, but I can honestly say that I would not want her being in control of my children, when she obviously isn’t responsible for her own. JMO
August 27th, 2007 at 1:17 pmI’ve sat back and said nothing on this thread for a couple of reasons. The first is that I honestly wanted to see what else was going to be said, the second being between work, school, the kids and everything else, I simply haven’t had the time to do what I wanted to do before I commented on this.
What I wanted and have been able to do is THIS. In that link there is story after story of a young child or infant dieing because they were “forgotten” and left in a car for hours. It’s getting more and more common.
I cannot even imagine what the mother in this specific thread went through or is going through. But it scares me that she is the assistant principal over hundreds of other children. All parents have “accidents”, none of us are perfect, but I must agree with the majority on this thread when saying that I do not understand how a parent can “accidentally” leave their child in a car for 8 hours. Parents must put their childs needs first. Yes, I do understand that many parents have to work and that many times our employers aren’t understanding when it comes to time missed at work because of our children. That’s where employers need to change. But I don’t forsee that change happening any time in the near future.
But I think that we all need to take a moment and be thankful that our busy lives have not put us into the position that we are one of the parents that have lost our child because we were busy and forgot they were there!
August 27th, 2007 at 5:38 pmMemory and tricks of the mind are not necessarily about being busy or distracted or irresponsible or any of the other things that are being attributed to this mom and other parents who’ve forgotten that their children are in their cars. Those who’ve never experienced a signifcant lapse of memory are unlikely to be able to put themselves in these parents’ shoes. Until such a thing does happen to an individual, it’s easy to assume “it can’t happen to me.” But there are many potential causes for such memory-related events that have nothing to do with one’s character — some physical and some brought on prescribed mediations, for example.
August 27th, 2007 at 7:54 pmNo one can put themselves into anyone’s shoes at any time, because no one person experiences things the same way another person does. We can attempt to sympathize with a person over something they have or are going through, but we can never experience it in the same way they do.
What we can do is stop using excuses and face the facts of what we have done and deal with it. Terrible things can happen to anyone at any time with out a single warning or inkling that it is going to happen.
Does a drunk driver ever think they are going to kill someone when they get behind the wheel? I doubt it, but it does happen. Does the person who was diagnosed with inoperable cancer today think that they ever would have gotten cancer? I doubt it, but it also happens. So many bad things happen daily to good people who don’t deserve it. This little girl that died certainly didn’t deserver it, but it happened.
The fact of the matter is we have become a society full of excuses. For every wrong that happens there is almost always some sort of excuse behind why it happened. Sometimes we feel the excuses are legitimate, sometimes we don’t.
One thing that I did learn while reading through many of the articles that I did the web search for is that of the children that died because they were forgotten in a vehicle, the poor or minority parents were almost always immediately arrested while the children with parents of higher income status or non minorities were usually left alone while an investigation was done. I also found out that there were more parents arrested immediately for this 5+ years ago than there are in the ones that have happened this year. As with many crimes, people are in shock when it first starts happening, but as the years go by and it becomes something that happens more regularly, it seems to be a less severe crime with less severe punishment.
I honestly don’t know how I feel about this specific case. I can understand both sides of the argument. But in the end it comes down to the fact that an innocent life came to a horrible end. Would it be looked at any differently if the child had been shut into the basement and died of starvation because they were forgotten about? I know, totally different thing. But in my opinion, there is no excuse for either to happen! Whether the parents are white, black, Asian, Hispanic, whether they are rich or poor, none of that plays any bearing when the life of an innocent child is lost.
August 27th, 2007 at 8:49 pmHolly, I’m not talking about excuses or literally knowing how this mother feels in this specific instance. I’m talking about reasons, and about something far more general: the mysteries of memory and the inability of many to believe or understand just how completely memory can break down. Such events can be out of the control of the person experiencing them for any of a number of reasons. I know this from personal experience.
I noticed, too, that the more well-to-do seem to face fewer legal consequences, at least in the news stories I read.
Did you happen to read the CNN link to the story about the professor at the University of California Irvine’s campus? His case was compared with that of another man, and the implication was that it was a matter of economic status that made the difference, but the situations were very different and I think that had more to do with the unequal outcomes.
August 27th, 2007 at 9:12 pmNope, I didn’t catch the CNN link about the professor, but what you’re saying doesn’t surprise me one bit! I’m hoping to get some time over the weekend to do a little more research and possibly give statistics. If I do, I’ll put it on my blog and post a link.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is how differently people from different economic situations get treated in the court system. People who cannot afford their own attorney use public defenders, and although I’m sure there are some public defenders that are OK, many of them do not “fight” for their clients the way a paid attorney would.
August 28th, 2007 at 6:22 amHer father strapped her into the car seat, and left to take the older child to school. The mom thought the father took both kids with him.
August 28th, 2007 at 8:16 amThere’s nothing the courts can do to this family that’s worse than what’s already happened.
rear view mirror??
August 28th, 2007 at 9:10 amThose SUVs are pretty big, in back. If the child was sleeping, there is a possibility that she would not have been noticed.
While I don’t think that jail time would do any good. The mom should at least have to do community service.
August 28th, 2007 at 2:02 pmno excuses. period.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:27 pm[...] I haven’t posted on the toddler suffocation death story like others in the Ohio blogworld have, but over at Cincymoms.com the message boards are lit up like no one’s business. The NixWife related the gist of one comment that I had to see for myself to believe, here it is: After reading all 22 pages of the message posts on this particular thread, I am surprised that no one has mentioned the stress and pressure it must be to be a teacher or administrator in the West Clermont School District. I do not condone or condemn Mrs. Slabey’s actions or inactions in any way concerning her daughter, but I feel a tremendous amount of grief, sadness and sympathy for Brenda, her family, her friends, her community, her colleagues, and the WC School District. [...]
August 28th, 2007 at 10:07 pmyou know what … as a mother of three small children (3, 18 mos, and 6 mos) i can’t get this issue off of my mind. i am a teacher that lives in this midwest heat. two children’s deaths happened on the same day in different parts of the midwest. since that day, every time i get in my car at 3:30pm after school i think of those two baby girls from that day. as a healthy adult i can hardly stand to get in my car because it’s so hot and stuffy. also, as a mother of three small children and a teacher i still believe whole heartedly that there is no excuse. this is a crime, every time it happens, no matter who it happens to, no matter what stresses are in that person’s life. it’s sad, very sad, but still in my opinion a crime.
August 29th, 2007 at 11:20 amI have a 21 month old and a 1 month old, and can’t even begin to imagine how someone can forget their child in the car in this sweltering heat. As soon as I turn the car off, i am in a rush to get my boys out because of the heat….and i don’t understand how it can be an accident. Did she intend to stay at school all day, and if she did, where was she supposed to drop her daughter off at? She needs to go to jail….what’s to stop her from forgetting her five year old in the future?
August 29th, 2007 at 4:31 pmOk, lets be realistic. We are only human, and humans forget. I have forgotten to pick up my kids from practice, I have forgotten to take them to a party, or that they were supposed to come with me and not their dad. I have forgot that my kids were at their friends and not in their rooms. Why? because I am human. When I forgot to do these things, I didn’t forget that I was a mother, or that I had kids, I forgot to do the task at hand. I believe that the mother did not go 8 hours without thinking about her child, or forgetting that she had a child, this mother went 8 hours forgetting that she was supposed to take her child to the daycare. I’m not saying that when she goes to court, she shouldn’t get anything, this is still serious, but she should never be compared to people who purposely killed their children. She is not a monster, she is a human being. Those of you out there that say’s, I have never, and would never forget my child, I pray that it never happens to you, that you never forget that it’s your turn to take your child somewhere or your grand child, but realistically, we are human beings and it could happen. Rather than put this lady down, pray for her and her family. Pray that she stays strong for her other children that the rest of the family pulls together and they get through this. Why not do that instead? Being hateful can tear a person apart and make them something they wouldn’t want to become. Pray instead of hate.
August 30th, 2007 at 9:15 amMother/Human,
I understand what you are saying, but we’re not talking about forgetting to take a child to a party or practice here, we’re talking about forgetting that you even have your child in your vehicle. Yes, we are all human, and there is no perfect person on this earth. But being a parent comes with a TON of responsibility, first of which is taking care of your child. More than likely, before this incident, this mom had not had a time where she had done something that had put her childs life in jeopardy before. That, I feel, should play a huge bearing on what, if any, punishment she should/could get for this.
I do feel, however, that no punishment handed out by a court of law will come close to the punishment she will put herself through for the rest of her life. I have no doubt that she loved her child immensely, but being on the outside of this story with no details about what has been said, one can’t help but wonder where her priorities were.
I don’t see where anyone here has specifically compared her to someone who purposely killed their child, just where other incidents of people who did so were brought up, so I’m kind of lost on that comment, but I do understand what you are saying. And yes, I also agree that we need to pray that she and her family can pull through this tragedy.
August 30th, 2007 at 9:43 amHolly, I think some imply it was on purpose when they express an inability to believe people can forget they’ve put their child in the car. And I understand how it would be hard for anyone to believe it’s possible if they haven’t had their own memory failures in the past.
Chad, about the rearview mirror: In some articles I’ve read, it said a change in how child seats are installed — so they’re facing the back of the vehicle — is playing a role in the number of kids who are forgotten in cars. Parents don’t see them.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:20 amSince I’m home sick from school today I’ve had the time to do some research and wrote my own blog post about this. If you care to read it, you can do so HERE
August 30th, 2007 at 11:40 amJust so all of you know…This is a statement that appeared in The Cincinnati Enquirer from the mother Friday, August 24th, the day after the tragic death of her 2 year old daughter.
“Around 8:30 a.m. Friday, Nesselroad-Slaby called Kevin Thacker, the middle school principal, and told him, “I want the staff to know I’m sorry that the year began on this note, and we need to do everything we can to go forward for our kids,” Brooks said.”
August 30th, 2007 at 5:17 pmSo she made a statement to the school but nothing else? I understand that she probably is being advised to not make a public comment for legal reasons, but this really bothers me. Then again, she probably thought the phone call would be kept private.
August 30th, 2007 at 6:24 pmWWJD – means What Would Jesus Do. I need all of you people to realize before you go throwing stones at this woman or anyone else that we all live in glass houses. No one is perfect that is why Jesus died for our sins. My thoughts and prayers go out to this woman’s family. I have also been caught up in a daily routine, and although I have not forgotten my child in a car, I have done things. I have dropped my child off at daycare when he was supposed to have an appointment at the same time, and didn’t realize it until I parked my car, then caught the bus into work. Once I realized it I had to catch the bus back to my car, and then go back to pick him up to take him to an appoint. And it was a very important appointment.
Please do not judge this woman, our GOD may just help you understand a little more personally how this happened. Yes it is tragic that this has happened. But hopefully it makes us all a little aware that it does happen. And it has become a more common thing. We may be parents, but in a society today when we have to juggle full time jobs, go to school, take care of our children, and all the other 500,000 things we must do, it is possible that something like this happens.
Please be aware that there have been children who were abducted, but so many were before something was done to start the Amanda watch program. To alert drivers that someone has taken a child and to be on watch.
Also how many children lost their lives while parents backed up in a driveway. But now we have sensors to alert parents that the children are behind the car.
Unfortunately these things happen. We do not understand God’s plan, but it is necessary for some things to happen to prevent it from happening in the future. Please, Please, Please pray for this woman and her family. And pray that you never have to sit on the other end of this situation.
WWJD – show love!
August 31st, 2007 at 12:24 pmThis was not a plan or action of God, it was the careless actions of a human.
I dare say that Jesus would not leave his son or daughter in a car, would he?
It is unfortunate that a person who did not take into account the welfare of their child and the child died.
A plan of God, hardly, it was a humans thoughtlessness that caused the death of an innocent.
It is not up to me to judge the person but her actions were thoughtless and careless.
August 31st, 2007 at 6:17 pmSome one posted about another baby left in the car for several hours and dying, on a board that I post on. The mom was running late and asked the dad to meet her at the corner. He thought that the mom had already taken the baby to daycare, so he just dropped the mom off at work and then went to work himself. The baby was in the car for 4 hours before anyone noticed her in there. But, she was already dead.
Perhaps daycare centers should set up some kind of program where they call the parents to see why the child is not there, if they are scheduled to be there. Or maybe someone can invent kind of beeper to install in the car seat to let the parent know that there is someone still in the car seat, when the car it put in park.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:30 pmOkay, this story hits me personally very hard for more than one reason. Firstly is because I personally went to Glen Este, and have met this lady. Secondly is because I come from a very large family, I am oldest of 7 kids, me being 19 and the youngest, 3 1/2 year old twins. I know for a fact that I (as a sister mind you not a mother) have had to take my brothers to their baby sitters and be at work by 5-6am on numerus occasions, and even when I KNOW they are not in the van, I still check the back seats to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything or one of the kids didn’tclimb in the backseat. I personally believe that either this women should either spend a VERY VERY long time in jail, or someone should lock her in a car for 8 hours, covered up in numerus blankets( because I believe the baby was probably wraped up seeing as it was very early in the morning) and see how she handles it. How in the hell do you forget that your child is in the backseat of your car. The amazing part is(and I don’t believe the papers have posted this) is that she somehow remembered to pick up 8 dozen doughnuts, and put them… IN THE BACK SEAT but yet “forgot” her baby was back there. I know that if she doesn’t get charged anything at all… she HAD BETTER at least fucking lose her job. Right now she is on a PAID LEAVE OF ABSCENCE. Living in clermont county this town doesn’t recieve a lot of big stories or big news coverage at all because nothing big ever really happens here, but this… I mean we had people running in to buy the paper the other day just to find out what else is happening.
“WWJD – means What Would Jesus Do. I need all of you people to realize before you go throwing stones at this woman or anyone else that we all live in glass houses. No one is perfect that is why Jesus died for our sins. My thoughts and prayers go out to this woman’s family.”
So are you saying that just because people go through daily routines and everyboy forgets stuff and God has this almighty plan, tht that justifies that an innocent 2 year old baby died a horrible death because her mom “forgot” or “fell out of routine” If so WTF are you on because you have serious issues. NOTHING should justify that. Yes jesus died for our sins, yaye go us. I read an article in the community journal(the newspaper for clermont county” that by 12pm, with that car sitting in direct sun with the windows rolled up, that that car would have been roughly 200 degrees and rising by the second, she was not found until close to 3. Would you want to sit in a car at 300 degrees for 8 hours?
Guh
September 2nd, 2007 at 1:10 amI truelly hope that each of you that have only bad and terrible things to say to this lady, that nothing terrible will be brought to you or your family. What if it was you that this happened to. Did you hear about the mother that through the hurricane, squeezed her child to her chest so hard that unknowingly her child was suffocating and ended his life? Should she go to jail for a very long long time? Should she be suffocated in the way that her child was? And to the doughnut comment, had that been true, the media would have been all over it so I do not believe it for a second.
Please know, I am not condoning what has happened here. I am not saying that no punishment should be given, I just think that she should be cut some slack because she is not a cold blooded killer. Besides, living with this for the rest of her life will be worse than anything they give her.
HellFireAngel, I read about other cases like this and in 2001, there was a couple that knowingly left their baby in the car while they went to a party. They drank, danced, had fun and came back to a baby that was no longer breathing. That is much much worse. This lady was going to her job, and why does she work? to support her family and that includes this little girl. Makeing sure that her children wanted for nothing, this lady went to her job every day and not to mention, had a very respectable job. Since you insist on makeing sure every one knows about the bad, why not bring up the good too.
Why not stop being so judgemental and stop assuming this person is a bad mother. She had one terribly tragic day, but other than that, she was an excellent mother. And still is, please remember she still has another little girl. I am not going to judge HellFireAngel because she named herself HellFireAngel. I’m sure she had her reasons for naming herself that.
God Bless everyone that has joined in on their opinions.
September 2nd, 2007 at 10:43 amHi folks. I live in Cincy and have experienced the media blitz around this horrible case. They announced this morning that they would not be charging this mother in the case. I personally feel so badly for the mother–I feel worse for the baby, but this is a horrible tragedy all around. Everyone involved, their lives are ruined. I just think how many times this mother wished she could go back and start that day again. She has a 5 year old and has to go on with that child knowing she accidentally killed her sister. All of the comments many of you have been making–how could she be so stupid, etc. I’m sure this mom would agree with every one of them and worse. I don’t think for a moment this woman is sitting there going, “but I didn’t mean to! It was an accident!” Instead she’s probably going, “I don’t care what you do to me…I don’t deserve to live.” Everyone’s hearts go out to that child, but imagine if it were YOUR child?? That feeling would go from empathic sadness and grief and outrage to horrific, numbing, suicidal, can’t get out of bed, utter despair. Just imagine how you would feel, and tell me why this lady and mother and human feels any different.
This was a normal mother like you and me, with a lot on her mind. What I have read in the paper is that she normally drops the child (who sleeps in the car) off at the babysitter’s house at 7am. This morning she drove down the babysitter’s street at 6:30 am and then thought “I’m too early…I’ll go ahead and pick up the donuts then come back.” So she turned her car around and headed for the donut shop. She probably started thinking “how many people will be at the meeting? Oh yeah, I’ll have to remember to talk about this at the meeting. Did I remember to print those presentations?….etc etc” As her mind moved to the big meeting that day, somewhere her brain unconsciously thought “ok, drove down the babysitter’s street already this morning…must have dropped the baby off of course, like every morning” Her mistake was that tragic morning she CHANGED HER ROUTINE. That’s the key to what happens in most of these cases. She loaded and unloaded the donuts into the cargo area of the SUV–she never looked in the back seat. When she discovered what she did, she was so distraught she had to be hospitalized.
And the comment about having the million dollar briefcase in your backseat? Let’s compare apples to apples. You have a million dollar briefcase (or your newborn baby) in your backseat…WOW!! How new and different and exciting!! You would not stop thinking about it! You would never forget it. You drop it off that day. Now it’s two years later. You have had in your backseat and dropped off a million dollar briefcase every day for two years. Not so new and all-consuming of your thoughts anymore, now just a routine part of your day–no less important! But routine. Starting to get the picture? Not that you should forget it or would EVER forget it, but it is starting to get a little more understandable if the events of the day and your brain played out in such a way that you got distracted and somehow, somehow, horribly, forgot.
I’m not above realizing that I’m human. I put my work bag right in front of the carseat every day so I will never forget the baby. Does any molecule in my body believe that I ever would, ever could? NO!! But I also know it happens in this world and 40% of the time, it’s to good parents who’ve made a terrible mistake and FORGOT. Simply forgot–horribly, forgot–would trade their life for that child if they could. How do you think this mother is feeling knowing that her decision to bring donuts, and her stupid brain, cost her a child. If she had any inkling, she would change that day and her actions.
How would I feel if I were the child’s father? I don’t know. That was a terrible mistake, but could I forgive it? I don’t know. I just don’t. The phrase, “how could you have been so stupid?” would never leave my mind, even though I knew it was an accident. This is why I call my husband every day that he drops my baby off to ask how drop-off went. Just checking. Just a double-check. Because sometimes humans make horrific mistakes purely by accident.
September 5th, 2007 at 9:58 amOne can’t help wondering if that was the pattern why the child care provider did not call and ask where the child was. I realize the doughnut stop is being blamed for the reason the child was left in the car and as expected from the way the story was initially reported she’s not going to be charged.
Frankly, given the degree of suffering the child went through before her death I find it very difficult to accept that was not enough to warrant some kind of prosecution. We prosecute mothers and fathers who have left their children home alone many times even when the child has suffered no physical harm. I’m sure the mother feels horrible, as I’m sure many parents who are sitting in prison right now feel horrible for things that have happened in a moment of a lapse of judgment. Very few parents wake up and say to themselves, “I think I’ll kill my child today”. What is the difference between the new parent who snaps in a moment of frustration and shakes their newborn and what this mother did? Both involved stress, both involved lapses of judgment. I’d wager both feel the same horror at what they have done. There should be some type of a charge filed at a minimum to make sure the other child is protected, if a judge decided there should be no punishment as has happened with other cases, at least there is a record…
September 5th, 2007 at 10:10 amLisaRenee, that’s a very good point about the babysitter calling. My only thought was that the mother’s meeting that day was literally from 7:30 am until after 3pm, so maybe the sitter called her desk phone and left a message and/or her cell but she didn’t have it with her at the meeting? Then you have to wonder why she didn’t call the dad or maybe she couldn’t reach him either… I don’t know anything about that part of the story.
But I completely disagree with your comparison to folks who leave their children unattended and are prosecuted even if they aren’t hurt. There is a complete and utter difference to the story and that’s INTENT. In that scenario, the parent consiously made a reckless decision showing disregard for the welfare of their children. None of us know many, if any, parents who would do something so irresponsible. The difference here is this woman, due to the fact that she completely forgot, literally had NO CONSCIOUS CHOICE about leaving the child. If given the choice, she wouldn’t have left her. That would have been insanely irresponsible. She didn’t do that.
However, you do make my mind wander down a different path though…a path leading to blame really. I consider myself to be an extremely responsible mother, always concerned about my child’s welfare and safety. There have been many times that I have pulled up to a store–like a convenience store (not a grocery store) or drycleaner, and thought “I just have to run in for a second…” But I know it’s irresponsible to leave my child in the car alone, so even if I think it’s cool outside and it’s just gonna take a sec and he’ll be perfectly fine, I go ahead and get him out of the car. Because you never know…someone could smash the window and take him, or steal the car with him in it, etc. All very unlikely, but I won’t take the chance. So here’s my thought. If she was as concientious as that, she would have taken her daughter inside the donut store with her, even if it meant asking the employees to help her bring the donuts to her car. And if she had brought her daughter in with her, she wouldn’t have forgotten to take her to the sitter. Unless she had already forgotten her on the way to the donut store, in which case I’m back to my original train of thought. I wonder if the police have thought to ask her that–if she took the daughter with her into the store or not. My guess is that she had already forgotten her at that moment.
And a lapse of judgement takes some judgement–that’s a conscious decision, good or bad. She didn’t have any judgement at all. Unless of course she decided to leave her daughter in the car while she picked up the donuts. Then I’m starting to feel a little unsympathetic about her decision-making. But I don’t know that. And if we’re going to go down the path of punishing someone because a child was hurt, then what about jailing all the parents who have traffic accidents where they were at fault–not because they chose to do a U-turn on a busy street, but because they got distracted and pulled out in front of someone, or ran a red-light, etc. It’s a slippery slope. Sometimes accidents are just accidents and blame is not to be assigned. The law distinguishes between conscious decisions and unconscious ones (with no intent). Although the law does assume intent in situations of extreme disregard for safety and welfare (like if you get really drunk and drive, or randomly shoot a gun into a crowd, etc.). I just don’t see that this is an analagous situation.
September 5th, 2007 at 12:30 pmHow does a parent FORGET that their kid is in the car?
Seriously. HOW DO YOU FORGET?
I don’t care how busy your life is or how many things you have going on….how do you spend 8 hours at work and not once think about your kid and then realize that you didn’t take him/her to the babysitters? I would have to agree with the others who said this is negligence at the very least. Child endangering that led to the death of the child.
[As an aside: Aren't the local courts charging a mom here in town for leaving her kids at home alone with pit bulls? None of those kids (thankfully) died...yet mom is in trouble with the law. How is what this mom did any less negligent?]
And yes, I’m sure this Cincinnati-area mother feels terrible and will deal with the guilt for the rest of her life and yes, I understand the whole process of criminal law and intent, etc. But still….how do you forget your kid in the car??????????
September 5th, 2007 at 1:08 pmTLC, yes that mother was charged and none of the children were harmed…
I agree with you 100%.
September 5th, 2007 at 1:11 pmYou’re assuming she didn’t think about her child. I’m sure she did think about her, but didn’t think about specifically dropping her off at the sitter’s that morning. Probably thought about what they were going to do that weekend, what she would feed her for dinner, etc.
That dog-lady chose to leave her children alone with pit-bulls. Chose to. Different.
Negligence…hmmm…the failure to exercise the degree of care that the law requires for the protection of other persons. She fastened her child into a carseat, that helps to show that she cared about the child’s safety. She hired and paid for a competent sitter. Did she fail to exercise the degree of care required?…I guess she did fail to exercise a minimum degree of care when she left the child in a hot car for 8 hrs. I think maybe it depends on what “exercise” means–it could have to do with choosing of your own free will, in which case she would not be “guilty” under this standard. Because then the definition of negligence would really mean, “when making conscious decisions of your own free will, you fail to make the decision that exhibits the degree of care required to protect others from harm.” I guess it all depends on how the law or morality or whatever looks at it.
September 5th, 2007 at 1:41 pmWith all that has been said, how can we the public hold this woman accountable for her actions? Where is the Justice for the little girl? We elect the officials who see fit to charge the lower class pleople with the same crimes that they let the upper class off. Yet they even find ways to get paid while on leave from the very crime they commited. As if it were a vacation and she earned it. We lets face it, she did try this 3 other times. (per the news) The only thing I think she earned was a seat in front of 12 of her peers, to be judged and have all the facts weighed. Not just judged by one Don White. If our officials are not going to hold everyone to the same blind justice we are all intitled to, we need new officials…. What does this say for drunk driving in clermont county. Oops I FORGOT I was drinking. Isn’t that was drinking does, makes you forget. Hey maybe after you drink and drive and have a horible wreck you can get paid to take time off.
September 5th, 2007 at 3:34 pmWhy is her status in society even coming into question? It has from the beginning, not just with this discussion. The paper said that this year alone, over 30 children were left in cars. I personally have not heard of over 30 children left in cars. Do you really know whether these parents were charged or not? Of course you don’t, they probably didn’t have as big of a house as this lady or drive as nice of a car. I realize this is off the true subject, but I just don’t understand why the media only puts on the news this situation because of her status and not others because they are not in the right pay bracket. I live paycheck to paycheck. I have a house, I have a car, neither are anything spectacular and neither are any where near new. Does this mean if it had been my child that only people in the general area of where I live would even know about it. Since I don’t make enough money, would my child not even be worth being on CNN?
Again, I know this is off the subject, but Lisa mentioned her status and I just don’t think that it should have anything to do with it.
Also, I wholeheartedly agree with Tracy. She not only has the same feelings that I do, but she certainly knows her facts.
Like Tracy said, I had said on before that she did not go all day without thinking about her child, after all, she works at her job to support that very child, she just went to work forgetting that her child was in the back of the car.
We can compare court outcomes with this one until we are blue in the face, but let’s be realistic. If you have two criminals that committed the same crime, in two different states, with two different judges, and two different jury’s, they are not going to have the same outcome, end of story.
September 5th, 2007 at 4:10 pmLisa, she tried this 3 other times? What are you talking about? I’ve been following this story closely and that is not part of the facts of this case. I think you are confused.
Also, legally her place of work cannot fire her without first going through all the “proper” channels, yet they don’t want her at the school right now…thus paid leave. Besides, do you think she’s fit to work right now? Trust me, her disability would kick in on this one and she’d be paid to stay at home one way or another.
Right now I’m sure her school is meeting with their lawyers asking questions like “Is it legal to fire her over this? But if she’s not charged with a crime, then what are our grounds for firing her? Can we just fire her because we can say she now has a track record of being horribly forgetful with children and we’re afraid the parents will think she’s dangerous around their kids? Can we fire her because it happened on school grounds?, etc etc.” I’m sure they are covering every angle. Plus, this lady was some people’s friends, I’m sure. And I’m sure there are probably some folks who feel they need to stand by her in this tragedy and support her–some of those people are probably her co-workers. Who knows how that’s all playing out at her place of business–but I can tell you this–she works at a public school, and that means the gov’t, and there are many rules that come into play in firing someone. I guarantee you she is on paid leave because the gov’t employment rules say she must be. Besides, I don’t think this was her tricky way of getting some free paid vacation.
September 5th, 2007 at 4:19 pmStatus my dear comes into question, when the firt thing the greiving mother does is hire an attorney. (1st sign of quilt) then her status again comes into play when we are charging mothers and father in the same town (Cincinnati) with similar crimes. Do you remember the Dr who left his children in the car to go into Home Depot? His children were sleeping at the time and he did not want to wake them. How are we to know that at the very min that she forgot her child was when she went into school. Maybe she left her little girl like she has done on several occations and thought that she would go back and get her in a little while when she woke up. That is neglect, but just because she left her out there while she was sleeping and later forgot, now all of the sudden she is saying that she never remembered dropping her off. As a mother, don’t you have diaper bags etc in you car, truck etc. Things that would remind you of your child. Are we to believe that the only thing in the back or her SUV was doughnuts? Come on wake up.
September 5th, 2007 at 4:23 pmI believe Lisa is referring to the video that can be seen here where the mother goes in and out of the vehicle several times.
She backs up the vehicle – gets out the doughnuts, goes back outside, walks past the vehicle then goes back in and then goes back out to get more doughnuts then goes back to move the vehicle…
September 5th, 2007 at 4:29 pmTracy, you must be following this story with the same heart as you are writing with. Not all there. Watch the news, she is on record with Mason schools as leaving the same little girl she killed in the same car several times. Don White knew of these charges as well when he decided not to charge her. How nice of him. Tricky way or not she should not be paid. They should have her on unpaid leave pending. Our Tax dollars at work.
September 5th, 2007 at 4:30 pmWhere do you get your facts. The first thing that happened was that she was taken to the hospital due to devistation of what had happened. I’m sure it didn’t take long for her to call her lawyer, that was a smart thing to do.
What do you mean by 1st sign of guilt, she has never claimed not to feel or be guilty. That guilt will be with her for the rest of her life.
Also, “My Dear”, you are saying, “Maybe she…” and “Maybe this happened this way…” well, don’t you read, they know the facts, there was no maybe she was letting her sleep and forgot, she was early to drop her off so she went for doughnuts first and then had her mind set that she had already dropped her off. There was no letting her sleep.
My kids are older than 2 so I can say, that at age 2, I no longer had a diaper bag for them, they were off the bottle and potty trained so there was no need for one. So she probably didn’t have one. It’s as if your making this stuff up as you go along to make her look even more guilty than she already is. I don’t think one person has stated that she is not at fault, we all know that, I personally and others too, are just saying that she should not be shot (figuratively speaking) as a result, as she is human.
BTW, I am awake!
September 5th, 2007 at 4:39 pmLink
New documents released in the Brenda Slaby case indicate she had left her two-year old daughter in her car on three occasions prior to the child’s death last month.
Clermont County Prosecutors on Tuesday decided not to charge Slaby with a crime, saying that the heat-related death of Cecilia Slaby was an accident.
Documents detailing the Union Township Police investigation into the case show that Cecilia had been left unattended in her mother’s vehicle several times at The Compass School in Mason.
September 5th, 2007 at 4:44 pmLisa, if a prosecutor was looking into filing charges against you for ANYTHING are you telling me you wouldn’t hire an attorney? “Guilty” or not? It would be really unwise not to. I guess you’re right–she could be lying about “forgetting” her, but the cops have investigated that and decided she wasn’t. Also, I don’t know if you’ve ever had a full-time sitter, but normally you pay by the week at the very least (I pay by the month) thus the sitter was very likely already paid for, so what would be the point in not bringing her child there?
Mother/Human–great points and you’re right, my son is 2 and I have not one diaper bag, diaper, bottle, toy, etc in my car. I probably have a pacifier if I dig deep enough…
And Lisa, she went into the CARGO area of her car 3 or 4 times–that’s the whol point–she didn’t check her backseat where the child was. She forgot–she didn’t see her.
Finally, Lisa, what are you talking about that she’s been on record at Mason schools for leaving her kids in the car? Do you have a news report to point to for that? I would be very interested in seeing that, as that is pertinent info to be sure. But I have been following it closely and I have NEVER seen that info. And you know, just because you are ANGRY about something, doesn’t mean someone should be punished for it.
September 5th, 2007 at 4:50 pmTo Mother – I am not saying that she was not human and was not upset. Anyone would be. but the facts are that she has done this several times before and just because she did not die those times she was not charged. Come on.
September 5th, 2007 at 4:51 pmTracy, I searched for the story when Lisa stated this, and the link is above…
September 5th, 2007 at 4:56 pmAre you talking about the same cops who want to charge her with a crime? And Don White refuses to. Because YES they did investigate it and they found that there was a crime committed, but Don White will not do anything.
Check your local news for the Mason reports, they have this on record and reported it twice already today.
Angry yes, but not because of what you think. I am angry that our system does not work, it is not blind. At least in the eyes of Don White.
September 5th, 2007 at 4:56 pmIf you follow your news like you say you do, then you know that Union Twp wants to charge her, why is this not happening?
September 5th, 2007 at 4:57 pmWow, just read that link. WOW. I wonder what documents they were? I wonder if the school was looking into reporting her to social services or something. Well, that makes me feel far less sympathic toward her because she may have chosen to leave her daughter in the car while she got donuts, whereas if she had taken her into the store with her, she would have had to buckle her in before she pulled out and probably would have gone straight to the sitter’s house because the baby was fresh on her mind.
I honestly still believe she forgot her daughter, so this was an accident, but knowing she has a history of making unsafe decisions with her child, makes me lean toward what the police suggested–at least a misdemeanor of child endangering or something so there was some record of her actions.
September 5th, 2007 at 4:59 pmThat new info definitely changes the facts of the case…
September 5th, 2007 at 5:01 pmI am not out to hang the woman, god knows I would want sympathy too. But that is what our Justic system is for and it does not work in Clermont County. Why is it that the Union Twp can investigate and recommend criminal charges but Don White do nothing?
September 5th, 2007 at 5:03 pmThe Mother will not be charged with anything. Case Closed according to the Clermont County DA.
Forgot the child, but she did remember the donuts!
September 5th, 2007 at 8:43 pmI hope the donuts had some sprinkles on it.
September 5th, 2007 at 8:50 pmFor those that speculate about if she left the child in the car while she got donuts: she may not have had to leave the car at all to pick up donuts. Krispy Kreme here has a drive-thru .
Don’t know if this was the case in this situation or not, just the first thing that popped into my head .
What’s this news story about her having done it three other times?
September 5th, 2007 at 10:18 pmWell – just had to get in here. How come none of you are thinking of all that way she had to back up to the school to get those donuts out of her SUV. She either had to look in her rear view mirror or turn around to look where she was going. She had to have seen the child at some point in that long trek to back up! I have owned many different SUV’s since 1986 and I can guarantee you, you will see a child in a car seat from the rear view mirror, I don’t car what model you are driving. How many of you mothers don’t admire your child in the rear view mirror as you are driving? All you have to do is glance in that rear view mirror and they are right there. How far did she have to drive to school? Did she back out of the donut store? I feel horrible for her but I just can’t believe that she didn’t know the child was in the car. Don’t you think about your kids during the day? Like, “oh, she’s at recess now, or she’s at lunch now, or she’ll be calling me because schools out.” Didn’t she even think about that baby and go, oh shit, I don’t remember taking her to daycare? No matter how busy you are (and I own 2 insurance agencies, so yes, I do have a job – don’t beat me up for that!) don’t your kids just cross your mind during the day? I mean, come on, how do you go 8 hours without thinking about a 2 year old!
September 5th, 2007 at 11:23 pmI hope this link will work:
Link to Enquirer article
it’s the latest story I’ve seen with A LOT of details and answers a lot of questions. Seems she was warned on previous occasions not to leave her child unnattended in the car. That donut store does not have a drive-through and she went into the store alone, but she said she had already forgotten the baby at that point.
The point about not thinking of her child all day–I think she had lots of thoughts about her child that day, but none of them were specifically of “let me think back on the drop-off”. Just because she thinks of her child at the sitter’s doesn’t mean her brain will automatically go “hey dummy, you didn’t drop her at the sitter’s today, did you??”
Finally the point of her BACKING up to the loading dock of the school. Yeah, I’m unable to reconcile that one. I truly believe this was an accident, but I also can’t imagine how she didn’t see her while backing up. But somehow, I do believe she missed her. I hope that link works–it has a lot of info in it. Cut and paste it into your browser if you can’t click on it, or someone do it and post it as a link because I don’t know how. Thanks!
September 5th, 2007 at 11:47 pmTracy, I made the link so it could work.
September 5th, 2007 at 11:54 pmAs a mother of 2 children, 10 and almost 2, I must say, that there is no way I could or would ever forget about them. That women was totally irresponsible. I do not condone it in the least, but maybe if her husband had strapped her daughter in the carseat her excuse might have washed, BUT she herself placed the child in her carseat so she can just cut the crap about it being her hudbands responsibility. Is she trying to say it is his fault? Even if it was truly an “accident”, she still needs some type of punishment. People get charged with vehicular manslaughter, even when it’s an “accident”. At the very least she should be charged with neglect for she neglected her daughters needs, not to mention child endangerment and even possibly abandonment. It makes me sick that everyone seems to be rallying up to support her in her “time of need”. I bet if she was a mother on welfare instead of an assistant principal driving an expensive car, she would have many charges brought against her.
September 6th, 2007 at 12:43 amI am completely, totally, and utterly amazed that absolutely NO charges have been filed against this MONSTER.
HOW in the world can someone “forget” their baby in a HOT car after going back to the car numerous times? HOW can you even forget in the FIRST place?!
Let’s add on to this. Was it an accident that she left her baby in the car on at LEAST TWO OTHER occasions? Let’s note, these are the only times she was CAUGHT!! I cannot believe the prosecutor is allowing this to go unprosecuted. As an elected official, I would think he should think about his job is now in jeopardy because this is just not serving justice for that sweet little baby who was STRAPPED to her death.
I am a mother of 2 children. On my FIRST child, on my first outing after having him, I took 2 steps away from the car and said oh crap, the baby. NEVER again have I EVER come that close again. I now have a 2 year old as well as my older son. I think of my children all the time. I go thru my day remembering what happened at the day care when I drop the baby off. I look in my back seat often because I feel something is missing when they are not there. This woman had a habit of leaving the baby in her car. I do not care who you are, there is no way one can think this was an accident any longer.
September 6th, 2007 at 9:44 amI want to comment on the race/socio-economic theme that I’ve seen in this board. People seem to be focusing on the fact that she had an expensive car. It doesn’t matter–I’m not saying that in court and the law that race and economics don’t ever play into things, because I am not that naive. However, one thing about the law is that at the time that you commit the act/crime, the law applies to you as it’s written THAT DAY. Which means that if the law is written in such a way that lets you off due to a loophole, etc, then you get off. People get mad at prosecutors and judges for cases like this, but unfortunately or not, our legal system is set up so that judges and prosecutors must FOLLOW THE LAW. It is LAWMAKERS that make the laws, and that’s Congress and state governments, etc. Even the Supreme Court of the United States cannot make or change a law–the most they can do is strike down a law for being unconstitutional. Our governmental system is set up as a CHECKS & BALANCES system. The LEGISLATIVE branch of the gov’t is the only body allowed to make and change laws–that’s your state reps, congressmen, etc. Please keep that in mind when you elect these people. The JUDICIAL branch has one job–to INTERPRET the laws created by the legislative branch and enforce them.
In this case, the Ohio legislators have chosen to make a charge of child endangering require RECKLESSNESS, which is a higher standard than neglect. In other words, even if this prosecutor can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this mother was NEGLIGENT–completely negligent, no ifs ands or buts, he still cannot charge her!!! She doesn’t meet the minimum standards of action to charge her with this crime. BY LAW, she had to have KNOWN her child was in that car for him to charge her, and they cannot prove that, nor do they believe it. Thus, no criminal charges for her. That’s it. It doesn’t matter if she’s poor, rich, black, white or an alien–the law is already written and all the prosecutor can do is apply it, and it doesn’t apply in this case.
The only thing that can be done at this point is for the law to be changed, but that won’t apply to her, it will only apply to future cases. You’ve all heard of things like Megan’s Law, etc. Those “children’s names” laws occur because of situations like this–where some child has fallen through the cracks for some reason, and that family or some group petitions the gov’t to change the law so what happened to that child will never go unpunished again. Legislators do the best they can with the law, but they cannot anticipate every situation–they are really trying to strike a balance between being to harsh (and punishing people that really should not be) and being too lenient (and NOT punishing people who should be).
So child endangering is out. Abandonment–I don’t know the legal standard for it, but I’m SURE it involves intention to abandon, so that would be out. Remember, you can’t charge someone with a crime just because the name of the crime sounds like what that person did–there are entire laws written to explain what a charge of “child endangering” and “abandonment” mean–and you have to fit the standard to be charged with it. Essentially, if this lady doesn’t meet the standard (which she doesn’t), then not only would the prosecutor be wasting a lot of taxpayer’s money in trying to prosecute her, he could easily be sued for false arrest and maybe harassment and then our tax money could maybe even be wasted in paying this lady for her pain and suffering!! Could you imagine??? Reminds me of Marcus Feisel’s (in my opinion) disgusting mother who tried to get money for Marcus’s murder. Marcus would never have been in that foster home if she had cared for him properly! Oh, and Marcus’s mother loved her child SO MUCH, that the county had to finally write her a letter almost a YEAR after Marcus’s death begging her to pick up his remains so that he could finally be put to rest. You want to be outraged–there you go!!!
By the way, Marcus’s foster family was white and lived in a very nice suburban home. I don’t know what they drove, but they were certainly charged.
Anyway, I digressed. But I am curious about Child Neglect. Is that a crime in Ohio? And if so, does that involve “knowingly” neglecting your child? At the least she should be investigated by Social Services for Child Neglect, and if that’s not a crime in Ohio, then take all of your outrage and petition the Ohio legislature for Cecilia’s Law–a crime of child neglect that would apply in cases like this in case, God forbid, it ever happens again.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:17 amTracy, your right, they have to follow the law. Don White followed the law. I watched the Today Show this morning and Don White said that he would have been criticized even if he would have prosecuted her by the people that feel that what she does to herself is far worse than anything they can do to her. I feel that is a good point.
I too have changed my feelings on this since I have heard that she has left her baby in the car before. Really, I don’t know how I feel yet. This is an overwhelming situation and for it to have happened so close to home is just, well, it’s just something that you never realize could happen so closely until it does. I still do not for a minute believe that this was any more than an accident. I do not believe that she seen that baby when she put the doughnuts in or took the dougnuts out of her car.
I would have been ok with it had she been charged; however, I am one of those that believe she is beating herself up inside.
They brought up the issue this morning as to whether she should have the 5 year old taken from her. I say no, she shouldn’t have her taken away. That 5 year old has lost her sister, should she lose her mother too?
We just need to pray.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:45 amLet ye cast the first stone who has not sinned.
September 6th, 2007 at 11:49 amMy prayers are for the family.
This is crazy! Anyone who thinks she shouldnt be put in jail is CRAZY as well. This is MURDER! I dont care what was going on that day, or how many things she was thinking about, it doesnt justify leaving your child in the car for EIGHT hours! Um did her children NEVER cross her mind that entire day, and think WAIT…where is my 2 year old?
She needs to be put in jail…if it were up to me, Id put her in death row! It makes me sick how any of you can sit here and justify what she did is not wrong! What is this world coming to? It makes me sick!
September 6th, 2007 at 1:12 pmI am now hearing conflicting stories about this disgusting woman. One story states her husband normally dropped Cecilia at the sitters so it was not part of her “normal” routine, but now I am reading that the doughnuts distracted her from her normal routine of dropping off her daughter. Either way, I have not read anything about someone else having strapped Cecilia into her carseat, so does that not prove she knew her daughter was there which is the “reason” she can’t be charged? Tracy, your the one who mentioned this, so if she didn’t know her daughter was in the car, her put her there? Also, how can it not be intentional when she has done this before? She obviously figured that nothing has happened before so it would be ok this time too. This woman is a complete idiot and the only thing she feels bad about is getting caught. I think it is disgusting she is getting paid leave from her job. I hope that if she tries to return to work that all the parents who have children there will protest. I would if I lived there.
September 6th, 2007 at 1:28 pmI will NEVER understand how anyone could “forget” to leave their child in the car. I have two children of my own and could never ever forget they were in the car with me. They have shown the pictures of the mother at school getting something (probably the doughnuts) out of the back of the car–Hello you cant see the top of your childs head in the carseat?????? Seems a little odd to me-and it also looks like she backed her car into the parking spot–dont you usually look behing you when backing in?? I just dont see how she couldn’t see her daughter and how she could remember the doughnuts over her daughter. I dont care how disrupted my day gets, my children are my top priority. They have also come out and said that she has left the baby in the car several times before;10 minutes at a time even. Shame on her and I feel so sorry for her husband.
September 6th, 2007 at 1:43 pmoops-I meant to say how they could forget their child was in the car
September 6th, 2007 at 1:48 pmHow could anyone think she did this on purpose. I’m not saying it is ok that it happened, I’m not saying that she shouldn’t be punished. But she didn’t purposly leave her child in the car like that. Plain and simple, she forgot. People are writing in stating that she could see the top of her head in the rear view mirror or when she picked up the doughnuts, but how do you really know that? You were not there. I refuse to call her a murderer or a monster. I call her a distracted mother that made the biggest mistake of her life.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:05 pmJennifer–Maybe in your mind “murder” is a moral standard, in which case, maybe she did commit murder, I don’t know. But in the eyes of the law, this doesn’t even come close to murder, so no matter how outraged the public is, she cannot be prosecuted for murder (or even manslaughter).
I don’t think anyone is saying that what she did wasn’t wrong–it’s wrong to leave your child in a hot car for any length of time. I guess morally then the question is–do you feel mercy for her is justified because it was an accident? Jennifer, you obviously feel no mercy is due to this mother, and lots of people agree with you, and I’m not about to argue that your opinion is wrong. I think she deserves mercy because I do truly believe she actually forgot her daughter, as unbelievable as that sounds to many of you. But I also am angry with her that she has left her child in the car unattended before and was even warned about it! That’s when suspicion starts creeping into my mind, that she didn’t forget the child on her way to get the donuts, but instead she chose to leave the child in the car at the donut shop, and that negligent choice led her to forget the child once she got distracted with buying and delivering the donuts. That I don’t like…but she would have to be lying, and maybe she is. But I don’t think she is.
The thing about her husband normally taking the daughter–yeah, I have heard that conflicting story too! So I don’t know whether she routinely dropped the child off or the husband did–I’m hoping more details will come out. They interviewed her best friend on the news and she said that the mother thought the child was with her father–that seemed to conflict with what I’ve heard that she dropped the child off as part of her normal routine. I don’t know, and I’ve not seen it reported in the news which one of the parents fastened the child into the carseat that day, but I think it’s clear to the investigators that the mother knew her daughter was with her at some point, because she did intend to drive to the sitter’s and decided to get donuts first.
Michelle–I understand your point about the mother fastening the daughter in, but she needed to know WHEN SHE LEFT THE CAR that her daughter was there, and the mother would have had to make a conscious decision at that point to leave her in the hot car. She had forgotten her, so she didn’t, at the point of the “crime”, KNOW that she was leaving her daughter–so no charge.
And it WAS intentional every other time she left the child in the car–but fortunately the child didn’t die then. Brenda Slaby had on at least 3 prior occasion chosen intentionally to leave Cecilia in the car in front of the daycare. If Cecilia had died one of THOSE times, I guarantee Brenda Slaby would be charged. In fact, if Cecilia had died while Brenda was in WalMart shopping, and she claimed she “forgot” the child, I would say she would likely also be charged then! Because in that case, I think prosecutors could show a pattern of behavior of the mother choosing to leave her child in the car while she “just ran in for a minute”. I think in that case they might be able to get a jury to believe that she was LYING, that in that case she just left her a little too long and was now trying to get out of trouble for it. But in this case, I think no one looking into this believes for a minute that she meant to do this or knew she did it. It’s a HUGE leap to go from a mother who would choose to leave her child in the car for 10 mins, to a mother who would choose to leave her child in a car for 8 hours, on a day of record heat, with all the windows rolled up, and never check on her. See what I’m saying? It’s not so easy to believe that she chose to do that. Because then she would have had to basically not care if the child died, and while Brenda Slaby chose to make rather dumb decisions regarding her child before, I don’t think there was any evidence showing she would actually try to harm them. In fact, as weird as it sounds, I would say that if Brenda had only had a 30 min meeting at the school, and had a window rolled down or cracked, and Cecilia died in that 30 mins, she would be more LIKELY to be charged! Because then it might be easier to believe that she thought Cecilia would be fine, and chose to leave her while she ran in for a short meeting. But I think the length of time she was at the school (8 hrs) and the fact that she had not left any windows down or even cracked, all actually lean toward proving she really didn’t know the girl was there.
I will be interested to see if she keeps her job. I will let you know if I hear anything locally.
And Missy–I agree, it’s really hard to believe that she really didn’t see the child, when she was backing up, when she was getting into the trunk, etc. But I really think she somehow didn’t. Does anyone drive that same SUV? Can you not miss your kid when you back up? When you get into the cargo area?
Finally, I also completely disagree that the older daughter should be taken away. I think this mother is ultimately a decent mother and would not intentionally hurt her child. I am sure the 5 year old is in no danger. But I do think the mother should at least get some court-ordered parenting or child safety classes, because I am concerned about her judgement in leaving that child alone in the car on prior occasions. I see lots of times kids riding bikes with no helmets, riding 4 wheelers that are too big and too fast for them, not being fastened into seatbelts, not riding in the backseat, etc etc. And while I definitely think these parents need some lessons and some HARSH WARNINGS on keeping their kids safe, I do not believe that just because they make some “oh-it’ll-be-FINE” unsafe decisions that they would PURPOSELY harm or kill their children. It’s a big leap from being too permissive and maybe stupid, to being evil.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:42 pmPlease note that in the article regarding Brenda leaving the baby in the car to go get her other daughter and on the other occassion that they spoke of, it states that it is in winter. I’m not saying that it was right for her to leave her in the car unattended, I’m just saying that there was no danger of her passing away due to heat on those occasions. Although it was bad judgement, I feel she truely felt that the baby would be safe then.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:59 pmTo “Mother/Human”
You say that…how do we know she say her childs hear when she was backing up or getting stuff out of the trunk..OK you are right, we dont know that for sure. BUT how can you say that she didnt do it on purpose? You cant! This world is crazy! This happens all the time, mother forgetting or not, it happens and your right she did make the biggest mistake of her life, something that I am blaming her for…as many others see the same point of view too. Did you fail to read the section about her doing this on SEVERAL occasions before….even one other time that same week? What is your excuse for that…did she forget those times too? Do you have children? Would you ever be able to “forget” your child is in the car with you…its not possible, Im sorry!
September 6th, 2007 at 3:00 pmTracy:
I understand your point of view with all of this, and I wont argue with you about it cause its your opinion. BUT you thinhk that if she got caught at a wal-mart parking lot with her child left unattended in the car that she WOULD be charged, BUT since she said she was not aware her child was in there she shouldnt be….she has done this several times before as you stated…Does anyone else see a pattern here?? She is a liar and is getting away with murder…in my opinion. I guess we will see what happens…they said she hasnt been charged YET…lets hope they change their mind. Im outraged by this situation, it makes completely no sense to me.
It is NOT possible that you do not see your child in the back seat after going to the car 5 TIMES! And it is not possible that she didnt see her when she backed up…HAVE YOU EVER BACKED UP YOUR CAR WITHOUT LOOKING BEHIND YOU?? Nope!! I think we need to find out WHO put her in the car…her or her husband. Im sorry but Ive heard enough.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:09 pmYes, I read that she did it on “several” occassions, I also read that when the bridge collapsed in Minnasota that there were 30 to 40 people still uncovered under the bridge, a day later it was 20, the day after that, it was 8 and this was not because they had recovered them, they were just wrong in their numbers. See where I’m going with this? The media likes to exaggerate. If you read the link in one of the other entries above, that article came up with two other occassions. That’s it, just 2. Please read my entry again, I stressed that it was not right for her to leave her in the car, and I stand by that, but that she made a bad decision, yet felt that her child was safe. There was no intent to hurt that child and, I will never be conviced otherwise. I also keep stressing that this situation is not right, that she should not have gotten off free, she just didn’t do it on purpose and that is my arguement.
And Yes, I am a mother. And Yes, I have forgotten my child. Not in that way, thank goodness, but I have forgot to pick them up from practice, or a friends house. I didn’t forget that I had a child, I didn’t go the entire time not thinking about my child, I just forgot to pick them up. I have a stressful job, a husband, 3 kids, 3 stepkids, a mother that is very ill, and a sister that may as well be a child herself. I’m not making excuses, I’m just saying, it happens.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:20 pmOhio law can’t prosecute but why did she take the 5 yr old to daycare and not the 2 yr old She obviously does not need any children since this is not the first time she “forgot her” in the car she didnt forget to get her stuff out of the back of the suv. She is responsible for children every day and yet she can’t seem to be responsible enough to take care of her own I think she should be prosecuted for murder or something of that sort. She may suffer for the rest of her life but she didn’t seem to care to much for her daughter on the day this happened.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:22 pmThis is nothing that I can say that will change anybodys mind, and Im not trying to do that either. We all have our own opinions and it will stay that way. We were not there, we do not know the entire story, Im just going off of what I did hear and read. Have you ever heard the expression, if it happened before, it will happen again? Well it did in her case and its sad.
All we can do now is wait to find out other information.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:40 pmJennifer–I think Mother/Human is just erring on the side of tolerance, foregiveness, and mercy. I think if you ASSUME evil in another person you will be wrong at least 90% of the time. Think about it–it’s far more likely that this was an accident than murder. And you’re right, there is a pattern, which with different facts in the case would easily lead to a charge of endangering, but I have to say legally, a person could actually purposely endanger their child 10 times and never injure them, but then actually kill their child completely accidentally in an unrelated incident. Is that murder, just because the mother was unsafe on other occasions? Is it any crime? Legally you can’t automatically connect those things! The facts are different.
I guess the bottom line is that in this country, thankfully, you are innocent until proven guilty, and they can’t prove this lady is guilty.
And BHB509, the fact that she brought the 5 year old to daycare (a very expensive daycare, by the way, so I don’t think this was some sick attempt to save money), but the fact that she brought one child but not the other, I believe strongly suggests this was an accident. Why would she bring one to a “sitter” and not the other, unless she didn’t mean to do it?
September 6th, 2007 at 4:09 pmForgive me, but if you’re a parent and “Forget” your child in a hot car, YOU SHOULDN’T BE A PARENT!!! Had this been a minority parent who simply “forgot” a child and her “forgetfulness” had resulted in the child’s death, this so-called “parent” would be crucified (and no, I’m not a member of a minority)! If YOU are one who has posted a message here saying that “forgetting” about your child is sometimes possible, YOU don’t deserve a child either! It’s NEGLECT, if not just plain HOMICIDE! I pray to know the identity of ANYONE who is as STUPID as this “Mother”. If YOU know of someone who this cold-hearted and self-centered, I Beg YOU to call DCF NOW!!
September 6th, 2007 at 4:13 pmJennifer–I agree. And sometimes you just run into these cases where you do the best you can, but you never know the truth. Look at JonBenet Ramsey–was her mother involved in her death? Was Marilyn Monroe murdered? I guess we’ll never know, but I hope someday when I get to heaven all of these questions will be answered. And all I can do now is take some comfort in knowing that if the people involved in these cases are guilty, they will pay eventually. God will make sure of that.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:16 pmI agree with you Jennifer. I think since a child was lost here, that it is making everyone crazy and maybe I’m over thinking some of this. I can’t say that looking at this in a month that I will still feel the same way because as the story goes on, I have changed my opinion. At first, I didn’t feel she should get any punishment, now, I think that she should get something and that she did neglect her child, just not purposely. I do understand the Ohio laws prevent them from prosecuting. That is not her fault though. I do think she should keep her other child with the stipulation that she get counsling. Someone also mentioned parenting classes and I think that would be an excellent idea to bring to the table also.
I believe in God and that He has a plan for each of us. We don’t always know why, but He does. Maybe this tragedy is going to prevent 3 more like it. It makes me feel a smidgon better to think that way.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:16 pmThe act of “forgetting” your child does not exist! If you have ANY children of ANY age, the back of a mother’s mind runs a thread as to their total existence. And applying the word “simple” to this issue is asinine…simple is forgetting to set your alarm or turning off your outside lights! Simple does not pertain to a child’s life! This woman was a middle school administrator obviously involved with children, her sitter did not have the sense to call either parent as to the situation and, IF the sitter’s house was in the area between the bakery and the school, she drove right past or through without even thinking of her child!
Of course she will suffer privately, but there is no excuse for a complete disregard of punishment. As a mother of 3 grown children, this opinion should have some merit. I now have 3 dogs (2 of which are labs) and hot weather concerns me regarding their welfare. And checking your vehicle physically OR mentally when you leave it is common sense!
Her job seems to be more important to her than her responsibilities as a parent. If nothing else, she should lose her job…you wouldn’t think she would even want to return to that school and the parking lot. It is an extremely sad and tragic event…but remember, it was preventable!
September 6th, 2007 at 4:29 pmThank you Andy! It couldnt have been said better!
And Donna you said “Of course she will suffer privately, but there is no excuse for a complete disregard of punishment.” Thank you for that I agree!!!
September 6th, 2007 at 4:44 pmHer job was part of her responsibility as a parent. That job put a roof over that childs head and food in that child’s mouth. When I said simple, I did not mean a simple act, I meant simpley speaking, she got distracted and it was the biggest mistake of her life. I agree that it was preventable, sad and tragic, yet she did not do it on purpose. She did not forget that she had a child, she forgot that she didn’t drop the child off. I am sure that she wishes more that you ever will that she would have looked in that back seat that morning, but reality is that she didn’t. Now, where does she go from here? No one knows her fate.
In a year from now, you all may think of this occassionally, In 10 years from now, Brenda will still be thinking of this every day of her life and still be beating herself up about this and will still be playing that morning over and over again in her head. She is being prosecuted, maybe not by the system, but she has a life long sentence. Take that into consideration
You can not hold it against her though that she didn’t get prosecuted, that is not her fault.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:45 pmTaking the 5 year old from her mother would be another tragedy. Not as bad mind you, but do you truelly believe that little girl would want to be taken away from her mother?
September 6th, 2007 at 4:56 pmWow. I read a few other stories that explained the other instances of her leaving her daughter in the car – they’re completely different from this horrible situation…and why she will suffer to her last day because this happened.
Yes, she’d done it before for increments of 10 to 15 minutes — and she was warned repeatedly about it. That’s what’s gonna make her life hell…the fact that she had the signs and missed them.
At this point, there probably is no reason to prosecute her — if she were to go to jail, she’d be abused, of that you can be very certain. Although, it does bug me that in a different part of town and for a different stature of persons – the punishment would have been severe to a fault. Immediate arrest, potentially no bail or a ridiculously high one that could not be posted, etc. But that’s neither here nor there in this case, I suppose.
September 6th, 2007 at 5:11 pmMother/Human:
“yet she did not do it on purpose” People kill their children all the time…we hear stories all the time of crazy parents killing their kids!
Who knows, until we have more information we will never know exactly what happened.
September 6th, 2007 at 5:25 pmAndy and Nanna–you are speaking from emotion on the race issue. The law does not rewrite itself for different races. I’m not saying people are never treated unfairly due to their race or socioeconomic status, but in this case there was no leeway–he couldn’t prosecute her. IF THERE WERE ROOM FOR INTERPRETATION in the law governing this case, then you might have a very valid point, because I think that stuff does happen. But the law is clear in this case and a policeman, prosecutor, jury or judge would have to make a pretty outrageously hard-to-believe arguement to get this woman punished in this case. Cecilia cannot be the first child in Ohio this has happened to. Show me an analogous case with similar circumstances IN OHIO where a minority or poor person was prosecuted for this–if you are so sure it would happen that way, the case must be out there.
And honestly the people who keep saying this is impossible–SHE CAN’T HAVE FORGOTTEN HER CHILD. She could have. It’s true. It’s just true–I don’t know why you refuse to imagine the possibility of it, but it’s true. I think maybe what you are really thinking is that you CANNOT BELIEVE she forgot, but as incredulous as you are, it can and does happen. She was a busy mom–I know I struggle every day with being good mom, a good wife, and yes even a good employee. Sometimes I’m so stressed out about my job that I don’t think about my child at work for hours on end. That’s because I know without a shadow of a doubt that I have him in an excellent daycare where he is safe and well cared for. That allows me to focus on my job while I’m a work. I don’t think that makes me a bad mom.
I think it was best said by Mother/Human who said that she had forgotten to pick up her children before, that she didn’t forget she had a child or even never think about them all day–she just forgot to pick them up. It happens! And I think it’s naive and self-rightous to say it can’t happen to anyone by accident. Do you think Mother/Human MEANT to forget to pick up her kids? That she wasn’t completely embarassed and shocked that she forgot? I’m sure she was, but she is just human.
September 6th, 2007 at 6:08 pmI recommend reading this article parents are charged, not all but it gives a look into parents who ‘forgot’ their child was in a vehicle that resulted in a death.
Charges are filed in half of all cases, even when a child was left unintentionally.
This father was arrested and held in jail for leaving his child in a car, and the child did not die.
Florida recently changed their law to anyone who leaves a child younger than 6 years old alone in a car for more than 15 minutes without the engine running can be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor.
If the child is injured, the adult can be charged with a third-degree felony, which is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Perhaps that is what Ohio should do to make sure if this happens again, the person involved can at least be charged and then it is up to the legal system to determine what if any punishment should happen.
September 6th, 2007 at 6:25 pmMaybe if she had taken her child out to get the donuts she would not have forgotten her to begin with! Priorities are definitely an issue here…. Remembering donuts over a baby is very confusing to me…
September 6th, 2007 at 7:41 pmI think her fat a$$ needs to be locked in a car with no way out in the heat. I am disgusted that they are not going to do anythign with her and that the school is going to welcome her back to be in charge of other people’s children.
Are you kidding me? A man in Arizona left a dog in the car and he was arrested and is being tried for animal cruelty. Don’t get me wrong that is bad too, but this was a child.
September 6th, 2007 at 8:12 pmMother/Human, are you for real? Are you a mind reader? You keep insisting it was an accident, that she forgot her daughter unintentionally leaving her in a hot car to die. How do you know? Please don’t even try to say because “Brenda said so”. It is human nature to lie, especially to keep oneself out of trouble which she would certainly be in if she admitted the truth. Regardless of it being an “accident”, there was a loss of life and that should result in some form of punishment. If two people get in a fight and hit each other, if one hits the person just right and kills them, they are charged, even though they didn’t mean to kill them. Why should this be any different. You make me sick and it wouldn’t surprise me if you leave your own children in the car and “forget” about them, how else can you condone her behaviour?
September 6th, 2007 at 8:31 pmMother/Human (and others):
“Forgetting” to pick your child up from practice or someone else’s house, etc is not the same as leaving the child in a locked car, IF IT WAS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!!! As I said before, checking your vehicle before you leave it is common sense and if she had, maybe the outcome would be different. The phrase “she simply forgot” was used on the Today Show, which is the reason I felt the need to vent somewhere. And there is another thing I noticed in the video…another woman came out with her when she was unloading the first batch of donuts. Too bad that woman didn’t “simply” say, did you get everything or check your car. It seems that the important meeting took away common sense, logic and even intelligence and that is where I differ as to lack of some punishment. It’s called priorities and responsibilities…if you are working to give your children the needed things of life and helping them to succeed, you don’t “forget” they are in a vehicle with you!
September 6th, 2007 at 8:55 pmEven is the woman isn’t sent to jail, she needs to be charged and a record made of this event..just incase it happens again.
September 6th, 2007 at 8:58 pmLisaRenee–EXCELLENT article on studies about people leaving kids in cars. Everyone should read it before posting further about how it’s impossible to forget a child. And by the way, the guy who was arrested and jailed for leaving his kid in the car even though the child didn’t die…he chose to leave the kid there while he was shopping in an adult book store for porn. I would be shocked if they didn’t jail him and charge him.
Finally, LisaRenee, excellent points about the law–I totally agree and hope that Ohio will change their laws to at least, like Chad Quigley says, make a record of the incident. I really liked the idea in the article that you can charge someone with a felony, take away their right to vote and get certain jobs, but only make them serve probation and parenting classes. I think that’s a great idea. I hope Ohio changes their laws due to this case.
Michelle, c’mon, you can’t really believe your punching example is analogous to this case, do you? “Why should this be any different?”, because if you punch someone and kill them then of course you CHOSE to throw the punch, even if you didn’t mean to kill them. It’s not like you didn’t know you threw that punch…you somehow unconsciously did it. That’s why it’s different–that knowledge of action is KEY. Besides even in your example, that person could still get off SCOTT FREE for that killing if it was self-defense, you didn’t use undue force, and you aren’t a heavyweight fighter. It’s true.
Mother/Human, ignore Michelle. She’s obviously either not listening, not willing to hear, or at the least not realizing that many of us here are having a really interesting and polite debate, voicing very strong and differing opinions without insulting each other. Even though no one else has “fessed up”, I’m SURE there are MANY MANY moms who have forgotten to pick up their children at practice, school, a friend’s house, the mall, etc. My mom did it–I sat on the stairs of the library with the librarian until 10pm before she remembered and came to get me. And guess what, she never intentionally hurt me, in fact she was so gentle and so opposed to our physically being hurt that she never spanked her children. And yet she forgot me–by accident.
September 6th, 2007 at 9:57 pmJust what model SUV was this? My car has a back-up camera, and I absolutely can drive a lot of places and never glance into the back seat. I also cannot see my 20 lb dog if he’s in the seat right behind me.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:10 pmMichelle, I was on here to discuss this and listen to and share opinions, not to be insulted. No need to reply, I will not log back on this site because of you.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:13 pmI realize this is an emotional topic, but I would ask that everyone remember that there is no need to insult anyone. It is very difficult to discuss a situation like this because a child has died, yet we can do it as adults.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:29 pmTracy, we still don’t know who strapped her daughter into the carseat, if it was Brenda, then it was definately KNOWINGLY now wasn’t it? Also, I am not the first person to disagree with Mother/Human, so why the attack on me, I must have hit a nerve with her.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:36 pmOne more comment. Does anyone remember Susan Smith? She strapped her two young sons in their carseats and then watched them drown after she drove the car into the water. Of course she said it was not her fault, someone stole her car, but the truth came out in the end now, didn’t it? So for anyone to question how real loving mothers don’t believe what Brenda did was an accident, are cut from the same cloth as Brenda herself.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:40 pmMichelle, I haven’t gone through the whole 129 comments to see who insulted who, some of the posts were coming in so quickly it’s possible I missed some. If I did and I should have issued a reminder sooner for that I apologize.
My request for people to be civil is one that I’m asking of all of us, and it’s a general rule of this blog for all topics. We don’t have to agree, infact it’s obvious from the way this discussion has progressed, some of us will never see eye to eye on this situation. Perhaps though something can change because of this and the laws can be looked at, we can’t go back in time but we might be able to at least increase awareness. Too many children have died needlessly due to being left in a car. Punishing the parent doesn’t solve the initial problem…
September 6th, 2007 at 10:41 pmwhat a tragic outcome to the start of a meaningful day. WHO PUT THE BABY IN THE CAR SEAT AND CAREFULLY STRAPPED HER IN AND WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR GETTING HER OUT OF THAT CAR SEAT? SOMEONE SURELY REMOVED HER FORM HOME KNOWING SHE HAD A PLACE TO BE. BABY MAY HAVE SURVIVED 8 HOURS ALONE AT HOME IF SAME PERSONS WHO PLACED HER THERE WOULD HAVE LEFT ALONE AT HOME ASLEEP.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:50 amI am horrified by this story. But, I am more horrified by the way everyone is trying to justify this woman’s behavior. There are several things that indicate to me that this was not just an “accident”: 1. She has knowingly left her daughter in the car before. 2. She should have been able to see the little girl in the rear view mirror or from the cargo bay when retrieving the donuts and juice. 3. Having studied psychology and human behavior, her actions and choice of words during the police interview do not ring true to me. The way she sits down and positions herself seems too deliberate and thought out. Her words are too well chosen and don’t seem natural. She appears to look at the camera before putting her head down to cry and says, ” I must be the most incompetent person in the world”. This indicates that she is thinking of herself, not her dead daughter.
September 7th, 2007 at 1:37 amIn short, I believe that she is guilty of (at least) criminal negligence. I am of the opinion that most likely she intended to leave her in the SUV for a while, but then forgot her.
The bigger question however is, how do we prevent these unnecessary tragedies? I checked on the link for the Baby Alert device and I think it would be an excellent idea to make this an addition to all car seats. The cost for the unit is $64.95 and I’m sure that could go much lower if it is produced by the car seat manufacturer. It seems like such a simple and effective solution. As for older children, I’m sure a similar device could be made to attach to their seat belts in some way. And while this device can’t prevent parents from knowingly leaving their children in the car, it can take away the “I forgot” excuse.
We watched this story yesterday on the news. In this stupid woman’s case at the VERY LEAST she should be charged with child endangerment or child neglect. If the DA lets this go without any charges being brought against this woman then he can expect several cases just like it to pop up in the future. Mothers all over the country who are not mentaly stable enough to take proper care of a children will see this and at the same time see a way out for themselves. If you notice, she did not forget the food. If the DA can say that this is not child neglect then he does not need to be in the position he is in. He needs to be fired and investigated himself. I wonder if the DA and this JOKE that calls herself a mother know each other personaly. Any parent in the world knows that you need to keep your eyes on your children constantly at that age and you don’t forget them for 2 minutes much less 8 hours. This woman is trying to say that she went 8 hours without thinking of what her little 2 year old daughter was doing or where she was at. ( NO FREAKING WAY ) I say prosecute this woman to the fullest extent of the law. If she can go that long without noticing she had left her daughter in that SUV then she did’nt care too much to start with. If a parent lets a job or anything for that matter, take priority over the safty and well being of a child. I call that SORRY AS YOU KNOW WHAT.
September 7th, 2007 at 5:41 amThis has got to end. If the authorities don’t step in, parents are going to continue to let this happen. If you are that busy that you forget a kid in the car STOP HAVING CHILDREN There are enough people in the world. There are people who are really rotten parents that don’t let this happen..DUH I am so mad. the statistics are outrageous. Where are all the religious extremist and big mouths now?????
September 7th, 2007 at 8:46 amIf this was not an affluent white woman who left her daughter in the car all day, would she or he (even if it was the father, I doubt anyone would be sympathetic) get any leniency? Stopping for doughnuts, leaving the child in the car … Then unloading the doughnuts (which took several trips back to the car) … Never once thinking to take the child out of the car. I’m from Texas, now living in Ohio. In Texas, you can’t leave a child in a car to pay for your gasoline. Why is it okay to leave a child in a car while ordering doughnuts? Take the child out of the car and have the child go inside with you. The child was sleeping? Then, by all means, wake her up and make her go with you. This was a woman whose job is to be responsible for hundreds of children, not just her own. Yet she forgets about her own sleeping child in the backseat? All day? It is truly frightening to think these kind of ditzy women are in charge of our children during the day.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:22 amSure, she’ll have to live with this for the rest of her life. Sure, her life will be a living hell because she neglected her baby and let her die in the heat. But that is not punishment enough. She needs to be prosecuted. If she really loved her child, she would want to be prosecuted. She should know that her crime should not go unpunished. Forgetting a child is completely unexcusable. It’s one of the responsibilities you take on when you become a parent. Think about your children before thinking about anything else, most especially before supplying doughnuts to your colleagues at work. Her priorities were not in order.
I am a mom, and not one thought runs through my head without it concerning my daughter. No one is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes, but this was not simply a “mistake”. This was murder. She went back to that SUV several times for those doughnuts … I watched the survellience video on the news this morning. She was thinking about doughnuts, not her child. What has this world come to when doughnuts take precedence over your own child?
I also can’t help but think if she were a different color or social class, she’d be under the jail by now with her face plastered all over the news, labeled as a killer.
If parents have always been this evil, and it’s not possible to really just FORGET, then folks why did the number of kids dying per year in hot cars TRIPLE after the law was passed saying carseats had to be in the back seat (where parents can’t as easily see them)??? Really, I want an answer to that from everyone who says it’s impossible to just forget.
And Michelle, I hope you are never on a jury. You are not willing to look past the emotion of the case and be objective. You are driven solely by your anger that this child died. Obviously you are not willing to consider the possibility that she could really have forgotten. Read the studies, the statistics–the articles sited in this blog! Forgetting children can and does happen, unfortunately.
I’m curious–if it were the baby’s dad instead of the mom, would you feel differently?
And if the mom strapped the girl in then YES she did that knowingly, but that is IRRELEVENT. The ONLY thing, the KEY thing, she had to do KNOWINGLY was DECIDE TO LEAVE CECILIA IN THE CAR. They can’t prove she did that. That’s the point of why the prosecutor CANNOT prosecute her (Pinpoint Recovery Systems). The police looked at all of the evidence and did a complete background check on this lady and decided that all evidence shows that on THIS PARTICULAR DAY she accidentally forgot the child, she did not knowingly leave her (to the best of our knowlege).
And yes she chose to leave her in the past, but only for very short periods of time, you can’t say that proves she left her this time. Just because she made NEGLIGENT DECISIONS in the past, doesn’t mean she made an EVIL, MURDEROUS decision that day. For example, a lot of men will cheat on their wives, but not many men would KILL their wives. You just can’t make those kind of leaps in judgement just because someone has chosen to be negligent to, stupid to, or hurt someone in the past. That’s the way our legal system works (thank god).
September 7th, 2007 at 10:53 amI agree with Lori and others who have said that if this woman had been poor and/or minority, this would have had a different outcome. And actually, the statistics support that belief in black and white ( pun intended).
However, I am not so sure about her daughter dying not being punishment enough. Because if it was me, I might have been so destroyed by this incident that I may have committed suicide. Forget about jail time. the thing is, it really could have been an accident. I used to drive all three of my kids to school and one day I was driving home after dropping the kids off, and Christopher piped up from the back, Mom!! did you forget about me?? He is my quiet kid. He gets perfect citizenship and is a straight a student. Really low key type of child. He was so quiet back there, I just forgot about him. I mean not even a peep until he realized we were going back in the direction of the house. the thing was, I usually drop him off second, and then his brother last. But I went a different way to avoid trafic because we were running late. So I dropped my daughter off, dropped his brother off,(usually my last drop of the morning)and turned around to sail back home. Just like that. If he had been a sleeping baby who needed to be dropped off at daycare instead of a school child and couldn’t alert me to his presence, that story could have turned out very tragic instead of a hey guess what happend today story I shared with my husband and sisters. After I dropped off my older son, my brain went on auto pilot “you’re done” mode. I am sorry, but it does happen to people. This is by no means an isolated incident. He didn’t cry much as a baby either. total opposite of his bro. I have pulled up to my house, went inside, then realized Chris was still in his car seat after about 10 -15 minutes. I think that time, it was a distraction issue. I was running to make a call and back then i had no cell phone. I actully remember walking back out to the car, feeling (and i’m sure looking), sheepish, with the cordless phone in my hand– looking around to see if the neighbors had realized my mistake!
Bottom line is, STRESS, DISTRACTION, AND CHANGE IN ROUTINE CAN AFFECT YOUR FOCUS. I am a nurse, and I understand this all to well. Even before nursing school I understood it. Everyone’s had a psychology class or a life lesson in that area. I forgive myself for being human with human shortfalls and I can forgive others too. My only concern is I did read in another article that she had a history of leaving the child in the car. I PRAY that is not the case, and that this was not something that was bound to happen because of her usual actions, but just a tragic mistake.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:06 amLike I said, if my son had been a baby needing to go to daycare instead of a talking walking kid, I may have been on the news too.
Lori, I don’t care what color she was, she can’t be prosecuted under Ohio law. Texas is a very hot state, I’m not the least surprised that they have much stricter “leaving kids in cars” laws.
And honestly–you never have ONE THOUGHT in your day that doesn’t involve your child??? You are not being honest.
OH MY GOD, the entire time I wrote that comment I was thinking about what you said and what I was writing!!! I didn’t for that moment even THINK of my child!! I must be a bad mom who would murder my baby….
September 7th, 2007 at 11:30 amWow Deana, that is a scary (thankfully happy ending!!) story!! Thanks for sharing it. But I do have one criticism–I believe black and white, poor and rich do come into play in some cases, but not in this one. The law is clear. You say there are statistics–show me–show me where a person of color in similar circumstances was prosecuted under OHIO LAWS for this same situation.
It’s funny, some folks are SO SURE this case came down to white and rich and some folks are SO SURE it was not an accident. But interestingly the statistics and studies DO NOT SUPPORT either of those views.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:53 amI am by no means trying to start fight with other moms out there … Yes, it is the honest truth to say that not a thought goes through my head without thinking of my daughter. It is the absolute truth. She is my life, my purpose, my love. She was also a very quiet baby, never cried, only laughed … She is an extremely good child and her teachers have forgotten about her in the past. Her teacher last year ignored her repeated requests to go to the bathroom, resulting in her wetting herself. You better believe I was livid, and had the teacher properly reprimanded for it. But as a parent, I would never “forget” her. I am always conscious of her: where she is, what she is doing … I don’t understand how this could happen to any parent. It is not the responsiblity of the child to remind the parent that they are there. It is the responsibility of the parent to know they are there. I am thinking of my child right this moment, not about who will comment on what I have written. This woman in Columbus was only thinking about her job, her colleagues, her position in society. And unfortunately, her wonderful miracle of a child paid for it with her life. I say the woman should be punished by law, and she should realize that herself, being an assistant principal to a school who is responsible for doling out disiplinary actions to the students and the faculty. There is no excuse for leaving a child to die in a car while you are having a good time, handing out doughnuts at work. And once I read that that car was a Mercedes, I realized her job was not to put a roof over her child’s head, it was to provide her with a luxurious and distinguished position in society. Her priorities as a mother were way out of order. I never called anyone a murderer for not thinking about their children 100% of the time, I called this woman a murderer because she murderd her child. And she should be held responsible for her actions. I’m sorry if you take this so personally. It just breaks my heart to think that this woman would think about her co-workers enough to go buy doughnuts and unload them making several trips to her car, but never once throughout the entire day did she consider the safety and well-being of her child. And the fact of the matter is that her child died a horrible death that was completely unavoidable. This is not a case of forgetting to brush your teeth, or misplacing your car keys. This was a child who was ignored and forgotten for an entire day.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:31 pmAnd as far as Texas law versus Ohio law … Who in their right mind thinks it’s okay to leave a child in a car alone for any reason? Your child could be abducted, or your car could be stolen with your child inside … There are all kinds of sick people out there just waiting for someone to put themselves and their children in a vulnerable position so they can take advantage of it. It is very heart-breaking to think there are people out there defending this woman or any woman (or man) who would just “leave” a child. For any reason or amount of time. And it makes me question the safety of my child at school right now. This woman was a school official. We are supposed to trust the schools with the safety of our children. Yet this woman was more concerned about doughnuts than looking in the backseat at her beautiful slumbering child. How can anyone forget about their children? How can anyone go through their day without thinking about their children? It’s really hard to fathom.
Have any of you considered that there is video footage of this woman going out to her car FIVE TIMES–even moving it to a different parking space? FIVE TIMES! How on earth can you “forget” your child is in your vehicle if you went out to your vehicle 5 times? Why did she go out to her vehicle so many times? let’s not forget she works in a school, and with all the reports you hear about the dangers of leaving your kids in in car in the summer, a reasonable person would not have done that. What was this woman’s excuse for “forgetting?” She was more concerned about getting the donuts to the meeting on time! Donuts are never more important than your kids; getting to a meeting on time is not more important than your kids. They should throw the book at her.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:44 pmFirst I would like to say that this family is in my thoughts and prayers during this tough time. I have no doubt that this mother is probably punishing herself more than any prison could however, it is undeniable that her negligence resulted in the death of her child and therefore she should be held responsible for that. It may have been a mistake but she should have to face some kind of consequences for her thoughtless actions. I keep hearing that she had such a busy and hectic schedule and that somehow is supposed to explain how/why this happened. If she was that busy, that her schedule prevented her from properly caring for her child, then she should have gotten someone to help her. It makes me wonder what else her children may have had to endure as a result of her being just “too busy”. What else did she “forget”? She stated in her police interview that she was just trying to be “everything to everyone” well how about being a mother first and foremost? How is her other child supposed to feel safe with her now and what about the kids that are in her care on a daily basis at the school? The fact that she can’t remember to take care of her own child and is responsible for hundreds of other children is absurd to me. Also, in reference to the few comments I have seen saying that we should install some type of sensor or device that notifies your cell phone if you forget your child in the car deeply saddens me. It wasn’t just one jaded person that made this type of comment but a few and if we as a society are getting so busy that you have to have some electronic device do your job as a parent that is truly a tragedy in itself.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:48 pmWhat is wrong with some of you people? It isn’t necessarily constantly having some thought about your children…as I wrote yesterday, if you have 1 or 12, there is a thread in the back of your mind that is attuned to their lives. If you don’t have it or feel it, then slow down and get things in perspective!
Deana, EVERYONE has “stress, distraction and change in routine”, BUT get your priorities in order! If you can’t remember everything you need to do without sacrificing a child, write things down, organize your life and thoughts, quit your stressful job, and DON’T HAVE CHILDREN!
The comments that this does happen and there are articles and statistics to prove it are absolute garbage! Try looking at it the other way…how many times does IT NOT HAPPEN? And then compare the statistics…get off your self-serving excuses and realize that “forgetting” is not part of keeping a child safe. This was 8 HOURS, not 5 or 10 or 15 or even 60 minutes…the woman played to the camera during the interview and her lack of emotion was rather obvious. Of course, that could have been shock???
If some of us are angry about this child dying in this manner, so be it! And from the reports this morning, Brenda plans to return to her same job at the same school…talk about callous disregard for everyone but herself!
September 7th, 2007 at 12:58 pmBelow are two definitions of negligent homicide. The first definition came from Wikipedia.com and the 2nd from http://www.iejs.com. For those of you saying that she didnt do anything wrong and simply made a “mistake” and “just forgot”, well the law has a term for the fact that she just “forgot” and it is negligent homicide. Others that “could easily do the same thing and just forget” would be guilty of the same if it resulted in someone else’s death. The fact that this may go unpunished is unbelievable.
Negligent homicide is the killing of another person through gross negligence or without malice. It can also be considered a death that is the result of the negligent operation of a motor vehicle, which includes the operation of a boat or snowmobile. In some states, the term negligent homicide replaces the terminology of manslaughter (involuntary) with similar defining. Unintentional killing(s) in which the actor(s) should have known they were creating substantial and unjustified risks of death by conduct that grossly deviated from ordinary care summarizes the relationship between the definitions of these terms (Samaha, 2002, p. 536).
September 7th, 2007 at 1:43 pm__________________________________________________________
Negligent homicide is a charge brought against persons, who by inaction, allow others under their care to die. This offense mostly concerns itself with the death of small infants or children, the handicapped, or the elderly.Negligent homicide generally only applies if a pattern of negligence resulted in the death of the individual.
Lack of emotion in the interview? She couldn’t even set up straight because it was so overwhelming. She did it, she’s guilty, she should have been convicted, I agree with all that, but she didn’t mean to leave that baby there. If you look at the video from the school, it shows co-worker helping her with the donuts, don’t you think that if she were doing this intentionally, she would not have wanted help with the donuts.
Also, we are obviously all mothers here, obviously none of us has had a child die as a result of the same thing that this lady did. Why are some of you mothers going beyond a discussion, or even a debate, and makeing accusations about each other. That is child-like, and I can’t believe how many times it has happened in not only this discussion, but many other out there. Please remember, even if you feel different from the next person, we are all on the same side with one thing, a child’s life is over and that is a tragedy. Pull together mothers, rather than bash the other mothers, listen to their opinion, and then give your own. That is what this is for.
My opinion is that this mother did not purposely leave her daughter in the car; however, she did neglect her daughter and for that, should be charged. I say should be charged, yet I understand that due to OH law, she can not be. The grounds are just not there. No prosecutor would be able to. Why is that not being understood. I did not make the laws, neither did the prosecutor, we just follow them.
Please, there is enough bad in this world that we mothers do not need for it to come to these accusations.
My heart goes out to the entire family, as they are the ones that are suffering.
September 7th, 2007 at 1:47 pmLori, I’m not saying I AGREE with Ohio law–I believe you should never leave small children in the car unattended for any period of time, ever. But that’s not what Ohio law says (and I don’t remember Ohio taking a vote on how harsh that law should be in Ohio…
. After this case, I personally believe the law needs to change in Ohio to give police the option to give this woman at least a misdemeanor.
And to Lori and Tami and countless others who keep saying this woman thought only of her donuts and not her child and how that is so terrible, please read this article and tell me if you just don’t agree with the part of the article where it clearly explains how easy it is SCIENTIFICALLY for humans to forget their children in cars. Do you think all those scientists are wrong? Lying?
September 7th, 2007 at 1:47 pmhttp://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2007/07/28/726276.html&cookieattempt=1
Tara–laws are written and adopted by state and local and national gov’t entities. You can’t just pull a definition from some dictionary and say it applies. All that matters is what the Ohio law says.
September 7th, 2007 at 2:07 pmAccording to reports this woman has done this before, been put on notice not to do it and finally killed her child with her absent mindedness. I would never ever let my child go to school where she is the person in authority. She might forget and leave someone elses child in a potentially deadly situation. SHAME SHAME. ABSOLUTELY NO SYMPATHY
September 7th, 2007 at 2:07 pmTeresia–very well said!
September 7th, 2007 at 2:08 pmI certainly wouldn’t hire her to babysit my kids! But that doesn’t mean I think she should be put in prison for what she did, which I believe was an accident, even though she has left her child in the car on purpose for very short amount of times before. I don’t think that proves a pattern that would lead to her leaving her child for 8 hrs with the windows rolled up.
September 7th, 2007 at 2:15 pmThe fact of the matter is that this woman returned to her car several times to retrieve doughnuts, never once noticing the carseat or her child. She had several opportunities to notice her child. Several. Autopilot or not, stressful job or not, this woman neglected her child. I just watched an interview with the prosecutor, which was quite frightening. “Oh, I didn’t mean to do it” is excuse enough to get away with MURDER in Ohio. That sends out a real good message, doesn’t it? And yes, she was thinking about doughnuts and not her child. Several trips to her car to think about the doughnuts. Several trips to her car, even to move it to a different spot in the parking lot, never once noticing her child. That is frightening. Her JOB is to think about all our children, and she neglected her own, resulting in DEATH. It is not excusable, state laws or not. She’ll be dealing with a Higher Authority. There is no excuse given by whatever scientist out there, after making half a dozen trips to your car for doughnuts, to forget about your child. There is no excuse in the world to forget about your child who is baking like a potato all day while you are in “meetings”. My husband, a degreed psychologist, has a very high-level, stressful job in which he leads meetings all day, all over the country, making very important and legal decisions for a Fortune 100 company. Never does he forget to check in on what’s going on with our child. He checks in every free moment he has. He will rearrange his schedule and put the entire company on hold if his daughter needs him. He will cancel business trips mid-flight and return home if his daughter needs him. There is no excuse. Children are a blessing, not an accessory to be forgotten or not.
September 7th, 2007 at 2:23 pmLori–what is your definition of murder?
September 7th, 2007 at 2:49 pmHow did she not notice the kid in the car seat when she kept going back to the SUV to take the doughnuts in? She didn’t forget the doughnuts was in the car, but she forget her kid? Something is wrong with this woman. She should be punished.
September 7th, 2007 at 3:09 pmUnfortunatley I did not really mean to come off as bull-headed, but on a jury…I remain. the woman is a flake. Has everyone forgotten about Munchausen’s sydrome??? this will be another excuse for these mentally challenged folks to use. If our society here in the old US is so screwed up that stress gets you off on manslaughter charges, we have some serious, serious restructering to do. We think we are the best country in the world? Have things all figured out do we?
September 7th, 2007 at 3:29 pmThat syndrome does not apply here. Below is the definition, it says only that you falsify your own illness’s for the sympathy. Even if you use your child for the sympathy, then you would fake his/her illness, not kill the child. I do see where you are going with that, as there are people that like to claim temp insanity for murdering their friend, or there are women that have claimed to have Post Partum Depression for hurting or even killing their child, yet this does not apply here. She is not claiming anything other than “I Forgot.” Yes, she is giving reasons as to why she forgot, reasons that I don’t and obviously most don’t understand; however, she is not blaming anyone but herself, she is not claiming (at least not as of yet) claiming any kind of medical condition.
Munchausen syndrome is a psychiatric disorder in which those affected feign disease, illness, or psychological trauma in order to draw attention or sympathy to themselves. It is in a class of disorders known as factitious disorders which involve “illnesses” whose symptoms are either self-induced or falsified by the patient. It is also sometimes known as hospital addiction syndrome.
September 7th, 2007 at 3:54 pmMelissa, I completely agree–Americans are the most overworked people in the world. And this country has far to go in enacting better laws and policies to protect and support our children, families and working moms. Do you know in France a mom can take up to FOUR years of maternity leave??! (Not all paid of course but they guarantee your job). And they have so many national holidays that if you lumped them all together, they could all stop working for the year in October.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:06 pmTracy,
I was not insinuating that what I posted should be taken as the law or that it was the law in Ohio or even that it is what she should be convicted of based on the laws in Ohio. My comment was meant to be a response to the people that were saying that what she did was not murder because she it was an accident. I was pointing out that eventhough she may not have meant to do it her negligence resulted in the death of her child and therefore falls under the definition of negligent homicide…
“Negligent homicide is the killing of another person through gross negligence or without malice.”
But I guess you needed further clarification on what I was saying. Hope this helps you undertsand what I meant now.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:12 pmAlso, the fact that she can’t be convicted of anything based on the laws in OHIO tell me maybe it is time for a change. What happened to that 2 yr old little girl is outrageous and the fact that she died under her mothers care is even more outrageous considering that it could have been so easily avoided.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:30 pmTo All:
My apologies to anyone that was irritated, offended or upset by my comments. That was not my intent; however, this case has struck a note with many people and when I did a search, this blog came up at the top.
My children are 44, 41, and 31 in that order. When the oldest 2 were small, a car seat (such as they were) could be put anywhere in the car, early vehicles did not have seat belts, children could ride in the back of pick-ups and trucks and, even in 1976, the restrictions were less than the current ones. The present rules have been put in to protect children and this is one reason the “I forgot” excuse bothers me so much. When my youngest daughter was 2, I worked full time in an office, made sure my son delivered his papers and got to his Little League games on time, sewed skating costumes for my oldest daughter and made sure we got to the out-of-area and out-of-state competitions and did everything else necessary to exist.
In 2002 in Las Vegas in winter, I stopped at a convenience store on the way to drop my granddaughter, who was 2, at daycare before continuing to work and I left her in the car. I parked directly in front of the door, locked the car and could see her the entire 5 minutes I was in the store. I still feel guilty about that incident and can visualize it as I am writing. And it bothered her because she was not used to that treatment.
My point is that considering what all of us for many years have gone through or done, the conception of “forgetting” a child in a car for 8 hours is abhorrent! If this is what we have come to because of our lifestyles, something is terribly wrong. And Brenda should be publicly punished in some manner “simply” to make a point.
September 7th, 2007 at 5:15 pmTracy … You’ve obviously got a problem with me specifically. What is your deal? I have not once come on this message board attacking you. What is your problem?
September 7th, 2007 at 5:19 pmTara, do you know what “gross negligence” means? It’s a legal term, a term of art. It doesn’t just mean “really negligent” or “incredibly negligent”.
September 7th, 2007 at 5:27 pmThat two-year old child is dead. It didn’t have to happen, but it did. The doughnuts were passed out, and I’m sure the mom had her share, while the child suffered and died a horrible death. Neglecting a child to the point of them dying is murder. I am not talking about any state laws. I am simply saying the child is dead, and the mother is responsible for her horrendous death. Now excuse me while I go spend time with my daughter. Good day to you all.
September 7th, 2007 at 5:29 pmLook I came on here to voice my opinion on the matter; not to get involved in back and forth one-on-one banter with someone who chose to attack or question my comments. This is a tradegy and i think that is one thing everyone on this page can agree on. I just wish that everyone could have had an intelligent open-minded discussion without seeking people out to criticize and turning this blog into something other than what I feel was it’s intended purpose. I respest other peoples opinions as well as my right to voice my own and since this has now turned into a direct line of questioning as to what I know and dont know I am going to sign off. Thank you to all of you that treated the subject matter the way it should have been treated.
September 7th, 2007 at 5:34 pmAgain, I’ll interject that everyone is welcome here but I do ask that everyone try to remain as civil as possible. I realize this is a very heated and emotional topic for many of us.
September 7th, 2007 at 5:38 pmLori, sorry I am challenging your statements–where have I gone over the line? You are upset because I asked you what your definition of murder was? You accused this lady of murder–murder is a very serious, specific crime. You say she committed murder, I say it is legally impossible for what she did to rise to the level of murder. I’m trying to lead you to see my point by trying to get you to really think through what you think murder is. Maybe you’ll realize I’m right. I think whether she committed negligent homicide or manslaughter are arguable points–but I don’t think it’s even arguable that she could have committed murder. Not with the facts of this case. Not the legal definition of murder.
Well, actually, if in fact Brenda Slaby DID purposely leave her daughter in the car (which I don’t believe). If the police could show enough evidence that she really CHOSE to leave Cecilia in the car–meant to and did–then that would be murder. So I guess if you believe that she did this on purpose, then you could reasonably believe she committed murder. There, I talked myself right out of it.
September 7th, 2007 at 5:44 pmLisa Renee … I agree with you completely. I just don’t understand the attacks coming from this Tracy person. We are all concerned mothers. Why are we being attacked for voicing our concerns? She has singled out me and others and attacked every comment we’ve made. She calls us out by name … What are we supposed to think?
September 7th, 2007 at 5:45 pmLori, I think Tracy just explained where she was coming from. I’ve tried to just stay back and let you all progress through your discussions, since I don’t want to over moderate your discussion on this topic. However when things get heated I’ve come in to remind those who might be new to this blog what my general rules are.
While I agree with the point that Tracy is trying to make from a legal perspective this does not reach murder or even manslaughter, I also understand why people would from a humanistic point state, “This is murder”. I think we’ve also all discovered that part of the problem here in Ohio that other states like Florida have also dealt with is what the law states. Florida changed their laws making them more defined and establishing clear charges for parents who leave their child in a car, forgotten or otherwise.
In the end perhaps that is the only good that will come out of this situation is to have the law in Ohio looked at and see if it should be changed…
I do believe she should have been charged, I do believe that the previous incidents demonstrate this was not the first time this has happened. Yet, I also understand under the current law even with the prior incidents the prosecutor felt it was not chargeable. Personally I would have preferred for this to go before a Grand Jury but that was not taken.
September 7th, 2007 at 5:56 pmI’m sorry if people think I’ve attacked them. I was just trying to have a lively debate. I won’t speak directly to anyone by name if it upsets people.
Folks are being so harsh the this lady who I believe should have some consequences, but I don’t think she murdered her child. I think all of this anger would be REALLY productive if maybe you started a petition to change the law–I’d sign it!!
September 7th, 2007 at 6:10 pmWow! This topic has got some serious shelf life. Ya’ll are going to town. Like I said in post #1, this is simply negligent homicide.
Of course the Mother is upset. Who wouldn’t be? But that doesn’t mean it isn’t her fault. She’s either dense, high, stupid or all of the above. No matter what the reason she left the child in the car, Her negligence caused that baby to boil to death in it’s own skin..for 8 hours. All the while, Mommy was serving doughnuts.
Nothing this woman ever goes thru in life will ever compare to what that sweet, innocent child went thru in that SUV. Picture “Faces Of Death” here folks, the apperance of that child when found must have been straight our of a horror flick. The largest fears most people have about death are drowning or burning to death. I’d say boiling would rate right up there.
September 7th, 2007 at 7:14 pmI’ve read such horrible posts here – what about forgiveness – this poor woman will suffer beyond anything we can comprehend for the rest of her life . She did not do it on purpose — it was an accident (all accidents are avoidable – accidents are unplanned). We do not know anything about her – she could be stressed, working too hard, etc. And her kids are probably the 1# priority in her life. Most working mothers are working because they are being responsible parents – proving food, cloths, a home, to give their kids a better life. Perhaps she is the bread winner – what would you be saying if she didn’t work and drove an 88 LeMans? I can’t imagine leaving a kid in the car – but it does not give me the right to judge her – we’ve all made mistakes raising our kids; and should feel blessed that nothing so bad has happened to us. There are a multitude of medical conditions that cause forgetful symptoms (pregnancy being one of them). Until we walk in her shoes we should only pray for this woman.
September 7th, 2007 at 8:47 pmI do feel for what this mother has to live with the rest of her life. Just one point that I just saw and heard on the news. This is not the first time this mother and father have left their child in the car. It has happen to both them 2 times before and one of the times that this happened to the mother, the school where she works sent a memo to remind people not to leave your children in the car. Just a little info for thought about this. Yes “Dee” I agree that we should pray for this family. take care everyone
September 7th, 2007 at 9:17 pmforgetting your child for a quick moment and forgetting them for eight hours is a bit diffrent, this womens child did not cross her mind one time in eight hours, there is something wrong with her, that was not an accident? Sorry but I dont believe it.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:18 pmHere is one of the legal definitions on Negligent Homicide
September 7th, 2007 at 9:52 pmVan Wagner & Wood, Criminal Defense Lawyers, Negligent Homicide Defense Attorneys
Negligent homicide is defined by Wisconsin law as a criminal offense that is committed by a person whose negligence is the direct cause of another person’s death. Negligence in law occurs when a person does not observe an obligation or duty where a legal obligation or duty exists or behaves in a manner lacking reasonable care. The law assumes that people will take a reasonable amount of care in all of their actions. Reasonable care is a degree of caution or care that a competent person in the same line of business, work, or activity should or is expected to exercise under similar circumstances. Negligence is then the lack of reasonable care and includes both actions with negligence and failure to act where a duty or obligation exists. [see Criminal Negligence]
I’ve actually never posted anything before – someone told me this story today, so I looked it up and found this site. I did not know the other facts (previous incidents, and that she went to get donuts). That changes it to some extent. We would hope one would learn from their mistakes, and the fact these incidents were noticable enough to be reported makes them even more potent. I’ve been late to the bus stop once before because I forgot and remember last minute and was there 30 seconds late (I missed the bus). But I am ever so aware now. This is one of those cases that will make history, and hopefully save helpless childrens’ lives.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:55 pmWhile I agree that prayer and forgiveness should be a part of this, so too should punishment. Accidentally “forgetting” your child is still negligence. I’m sure she’s sorry it happened. I’m sure she’s grief stricken beyond belief, but she’s still negligent in the death of her child. Under the rule of law, this is a crime. If we selectively let people get away with this sort of thing on the basis of presumed suffering, I speak out for the child. A 2 y/o kows their parents. Imagine for a second the child’s mind when she started to suffer…
I am truly sorry for the family’s loss. I cannot imagine the sorrow. My heart goes out, even to the mother, but not to the point of absoliution. The mother and father have both left the kid in the car before. You’d think the prior experiences that thay had would have “alerted” them to be more carefull. Aparently not.
She didn’t park in a rush and run into the building for the day, she made several trips to her car…
She may not have done it on purpose, but she sure didn’t make enough effort to not do it.
Seems to me, women all over the country are citing “stress and burden” as a reason for “accidentally” killing their children. Being nutz, stressed, whatever doesn’t make it ok. It’s all the more reason to protect her other kid(s) and her from doing again anytime soon. I’m not saying life, but a term in jail is well within order here.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:59 pmChad—It’s great to have a man’s point of view. The point of this is not just murder or forgetting or trips to the car, it’s that this is the 324th time this has happened in America in 2 years? I think those were the numbers I heard on the Today show. She is not the first nor the last i’m afraid, who will have this unfortunate event occur. The point is, WE NEED TO CHANGE OUR LIFESTYLES..and quickly recognize that this is not working. Someone has to be responsible for children and their well-being. Not just Oprah..I guess its the donut deal that really got everyone going on this one. Oh and maybe that it wasn’t the first time for these folks.
September 8th, 2007 at 12:32 amUnder the rule of law this was NOT a crime, at least not in Ohio. (Unless they can prove she knew she left her child in there.) I think the law in Ohio needs changed.
September 8th, 2007 at 12:41 amIn every state I’ve lived in, and that’s 5, negligent homicide was/is a crime. Ohio is far behind the rest of the country in things that matter. Florida has stringent child protection laws, and it’s a retirement state.
An “accident” is when you fall down an elevator shaft, and accident is when you douche with draino. This was no accident, this was criminal negligence that resulted in the death of a child.
We live in a country that practicies “excuses”. There’s a shrink somewhere that will come up with some outragous excuse for every sort of bad/criminal/negitive behavior. Society seems to condone everything under the guise of mental illness, be it temporary or otherwise.
The Drugs, the drinking, the family dynamics, abuse, tollerance, poverty, under-educated, every sort of social and economic distress. Let me restate that some…”White Society”, has these excuses. If this woman were black or hispanic she would be taken to the gallows. But no, she’s a white bread, upper middle class married woman. Therefore, it was a “accident”. Horse Crap!
I say this, as a white middle class male. I live and work in a city with a huge divide between races, and almost weekly there’s a case or two that involve children. If they can afford good lawyers, they get off, if they cannot afford good lawyers, they get the shaft. It’s a totally unfair system and it’s ruining society.
I agree with you Melissa, we need to change lifestyles. America is the least restful in the free world. We work too much, we care about the wrong things and as a result, people make negligent choices.
Children are a gift from God. They are the most valuable beings on the planet and they are the #1 priority wether we realize it or not. When children suffer and die as a result of adults, the crime is not just a civil one, but a crime against nature and God. Parents are entrusted by God to have and raise up a child (children). When they fail at this basic human function, there has to be a penalty aside from personal grief.
I grew up in a white, middle class home and for over 10 years was the victim of abuse and negligence. The step-parent that tried to kill me was just released from prison. I’m 39 now and he was jailed when I was 11. My “mother” was the negligent one, she knew and allowed this behavior for over 11 years becasue she was “Afraid, under-educated and so on”.
What was stolen from me as a child, the result of my mother’s negligence and his abuse was my ability to father a child. The excuse was that he was a drug addict and a drunk and my mother was a mental case. Whoop dee’ freakin do.
The “system” failed me as a child just like it is now failing that poor dead lil girl. I survived, she did not. It doesn’t matter that her parents we not intentionally abusive. The fact remains that as a result of the mother’s negligence, the girl suffered and died. She can remain distraught and sad forevver, it won’t change the facts here.
I guess she should be eternally greatful that she lives in America becasue in some cultures, she would have been stoned to death for this.
September 8th, 2007 at 7:48 amThis is what the ORC states:
2919.22 Endangering children.
(A) No person, who is the parent, guardian, custodian, person having custody or control, or person in loco parentis of a child under eighteen years of age or a mentally or physically handicapped child under twenty-one years of age, shall create a substantial risk to the health or safety of the child, by violating a duty of care, protection, or support. It is not a violation of a duty of care, protection, or support under this division when the parent, guardian, custodian, or person having custody or control of a child treats the physical or mental illness or defect of the child by spiritual means through prayer alone, in accordance with the tenets of a recognized religious body.
http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2919.22
Some courts have interpreted the langauge differently.
So, the question seems to be, did the mother breech the duty of car by leaving the child in a car for an extended period of time.
September 8th, 2007 at 7:54 am2903.05 Negligent homicide.
(A) No person shall negligently cause the death of another or the unlawful termination of another’s pregnancy by means of a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance as defined in section 2923.11 of the Revised Code.
(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor of the first degree.
Effective Date: 09-06-1996
http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2903.05
September 8th, 2007 at 8:13 amI, like so many others, am simply shocked by this story. It lead me to several thoughts: if I were driving down the road, painting my nails as I drove, applying make-up or talking on the phone, I would surely be a negligent driver. If I killed someone while being negligent, then it surely would be an accident, since I did not mean to kill anyone or plan to kill anyone.
September 8th, 2007 at 10:05 amAnytime a parent forgets their child it is neglectful. I agree that to some degree most people probably are somewhat negligent. Parents are one of the biggest problems in our society, in so many ways! While this mother was clearly neglecting to remember her child’s welfare, I do believe it was an accident. An accident of stupidity, stress, pressure to perform in our jobs, to be on time- why do we face such severe penalties in the workplace for taking time to be safe and care for children? If I were the mother, I would want to die too, because there is nothing worse in this world than the profound sadness that must come from killing your own child unintentionally. Now the British parents of Madeline in Portugal, that is interesting because they are not saying that they accidentally killed their daughter- but what if they did- would they get off this easily? They are too pretty to have done that. But this mom- the middle school assistant principal, she is big and not so pretty- so we have an easier time crucifying her.
If any parent out there can honestly say that they can go for 8 hours without the thought of there child crossing there mind. In my opinion they are not much of a parent. Who did this woman think was changing, feeding and taking care of her child during the 8 hours? If anyone wants to claim that this is not neglegent. I will say to them
September 8th, 2007 at 10:29 am” YOU ARE STUPID ” Most people in this country think about there pets more often than that. Also most any DA in this country would bring charges against a parent no matter who or what color they are for this stupid act of neglegence. PLEASE THINK ABOUT THIS. What if you went to a tanning booth and the attendant left you locked in for 8 hours and you survived with massive burns all over your body. And supose that she told the peramedics that she was so busy with getting ready for her next client and having lunch among other things that she just forgot you were in there. WOULD YOU FORGIVE THEM OR BE READY TO TAKE THEM TO COURT?? This little girl wanted to be let out of that car too but the DA sais the mother will not be held accountable. How is that for justice??????????
How come the childcare/sitter did not miss the child and call? I’d think that childcare agency/person would have called the father or the mother to ask about the unannounced absence.
September 8th, 2007 at 10:34 amAny info on the father? Really a very sad incident all the way around.
I understand the premise that the woman will suffer. As she should. She remembered the doughnuts, she went to her car over 4-6 times..on tape. Hello?? It this thing on? Tap, tap tap. Never noticed the car seat? never even gave a second thought to her child’s presence in the car? at noon, she didn’t wonder? While going to the bathroom she never thought of her daughter? Oh please….I think about my dogs welfare at least 8 times a day, especially when I am not with them. I ponder my baby kitten in the house, and a good many other people and animals.
Her size and her appearence are not the issue here. Tho it does speak of the doughnuts. I would never be able to forgive my wife for such a thing completely. It would drive any marriage to the brink. I would try, but my human nature would never trust her again.
There are examples of negligence all over the world that get prosecuted every day. Most of which do not result in death. This mother’s actions and lack of them are a serious matter that needs to be handled in a court/jail manner. Parents are supposedly adults, responsible for their children’s saftey and welfare at all times, day and night for 18 years. That fact that she didin’t do it on purpose doesn’t exempt her from the responsibility. The fact that she may suffer mental anguish for the rest of her life doesn’t exempt her either. Based on the sum of evidence, she is guilty of Negligent Homicide.
September 8th, 2007 at 10:49 amI, too, understand what everyone is saying about how it is wrong that this mother isn’t being charged with a crime for what she did, but as much as I think she should be charged, the DA’s office has to follow the law for her city and the state of Ohio. It’s been stated by the DA that, going by the laws the way they are written, he cannot charge her for what happened.
It sickens me! How many more times will an innocent life have to be taken before our law makers realize that something is wrong with the way these laws are written? That, in my opinion, is where the biggest part of the problem lies. As much as we’d like to take into account all of the anger and emotion that we feel about this and try her in a court of law, it simply can’t be done. This is one of those times where an innocent child’s death cannot be “avenged” in a court of law because these said laws have allowed it to “slip between the cracks”, preventing the person responsible from being prosecuted.
The only real recourse that I see is for each and every one of us to get on our legislators and make sure that these laws are changed ASAP to protect innocent lives from being taken in the future.
September 8th, 2007 at 11:30 amThis DA should be fired and prosecuted himself. AGAIN I ASK. If the person running a tanning salon locked you in a tanning booth that would not cut off and you could not get out of for 8 hours, resulting in your skin being burned and blisterd so bad you have to be hospitalised, then told the emergency medical workers that she had other clients, lunch, office work and several other things going on at one time and she accadently forgot you were in there. Would you forgive her or take the tanning salon to court? I wonder if the DA knows this woman personaly.
September 8th, 2007 at 12:09 pmI think what this woman did to her daughter qualifies as manslaughter on a broader term. Is that not what they call it when someone causes someone elses death “unintentionally”? This woman will never admit to leaving her daughter in the car on purpose, why would she? I also agree that the video interview was terrible because all she could talk about was herself. If I lost a child, all I would be able to do is moan my baby, my poor baby. I suppose that some people may be able to forget their child was in the car for a few minutes, but to try and say that in an 8 hour span you never once thought about your children is ridiculous. If she gave her daughter a split seconds thought, she would have realized she was still in the car. EVERYTIME I get out of my car I look at my toddlers car seat, even when I KNOW she is not with me. That is subconscious on a level, just like autopilot, I have done that as well. Tracy; I would look at the situation no differently if it was Cecilia’s father that had left her in the car. I do however believe the majority of mothers should have a stronger bond to their children though. I also think it was possible that Brenda knew her daughter was in the car sleeping, because who wants to wake a sleeping child, and perhaps planned to take her to the sitters after her first meeting. Perhaps that is where she “forgot” about Cecilia. This IS all speculation of course, but if so, why would she ever admit it? I think Ohio law needs to change as well as any other state so that any accident that results in the death of a child is punishable in some form. As for jury selection, I too hope I never have to deal with that situation.
September 8th, 2007 at 12:28 pmPinpoint,
I understand what you are trying to say, I really do, but this is not the DA’s fault! He is reading the law(s) the way they are written, and that being so, there simply isn’t anything he can charge her with because, as horrible as it sounds, it was an accident.
No, I’m not even remotely defending this woman, I don’t think I ever could. But facts being as they are, the DA is going by the law(s). I don’t know if he knows this woman personally, although I highly doubt it because he is in an elected position (I think), which means if you pi$$ the public off bad enough, the next time around they won’t elect you again.
I’m fairly certain, and this is just opinion and NOT fact, if he could have prosecuted her with something he would have. But it goes back to what I said before, it’s in the way that the law(s) are written, so we need to do what we can to make sure they are changed to prevent another crime like this from not being prosecuted!
September 8th, 2007 at 12:28 pmDoes anyone know whether the sitter made a statement as yet? I am curious what the sitter/agency thinks.
September 8th, 2007 at 1:24 pmDoes anyone know whether the a statement taken from the sitter and he/she said?
September 8th, 2007 at 1:25 pmThere is one more thing that makes me think that this woman is less concerned about the fate of her child than her own fate. She hired an attorney. In most other cases where a child died due to a parent forgetting them the parent accepted punishment and acknowledged that they deserved it. If she truly felt remorse she would acknowledge that she deserves to be prosecuted. In my humble opinion as a mother, no punishment could ever atone for something like this. However, a caring parent should feel guilty enough to want to serve the time. And for those of you that say that she is thinking about the welfare of her other daughter, I would feel like I could no longer trust myself to take care of that child. I’ve accidentally nicked my son’s finger while clipping his nails before and it took me months to feel comfortable clipping them again.
September 8th, 2007 at 1:38 pmWe can speculate as much as we want as to what this woman does or does not do behind closed doors, but the only people that know how she feels and what she is going through are herself, those that are with her and her maker. As for her feeling so guilty that she should “want to serve the time”, I don’t think there is any criminal out there that wants to serve a day behind bars. I do, however, know people that have committed crimes and have done the right thing and admit to them rather than put the system through a lengthy court battle because they realized they had made a mistake and wanted to turn their lives around. But none of those that I know “wanted” to serve time, but just because they didn’t want to serve time does not make that the fact that they admitted they did something wrong, and eventually turned their lives around, any different. In my opinion, taking into account what has been said, if anything she should feel so guilty that she’d want to die rather than serve time, but as I stated, that’s my opinion. If I had done something that had caused the death of one of my children I think my first thought would be that I’d want to die rather than I think I should go to jail.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:10 pm“If I killed someone while being negligent, then it surely would be an accident, since I did not mean to kill anyone or plan to kill anyone.”
The interpretation of negligence is not that black and white in the realm of the law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negligence#Procedures_and_law_in_civil_law_jurisdictions
September 8th, 2007 at 2:52 pmThis is one of the most outrageous things that I have ever heard. If a mother leaves a baby in the car and forgets that the baby is in the car, come on people, don’t you think there is something seriously wrong here? What happened to mothers who love and would do anything to keep their children safe? This is murder, no two ways about it. It is insane that she is not charged. Our justice system is in trouble. We need to find judges who actually care about our children and keeping them safe. I am so mad about this
September 8th, 2007 at 3:14 pmI agree, there is something wrong here, both with the child dying AND with our laws that are going to let this crime go unpunished! It’s not the judges fault, as I stated in an earlier post, it’s how the law(s) are written. The prosecutors offices have to follow the law when charging someone with a crime, their hands are tied on that, because if they don’t then they open themselves up to HUGE lawsuits, because, as everyone knows, we live in a sue crazy world!
I have a feeling this isn’t completely over though, considering what all has been found out about previous times the mother was warned about leaving the child in a car, something tells me that the prosecutors office is probably still digging to try and find something that she can be charged with. Don’t quote me on that though, it’s just an opinion.
September 8th, 2007 at 3:22 pmOn my other posts, I indicated exactly what Michelle mentioned. A mother has a sixth sense and it does not mean that she consciously thinks about her children 24/7. It is just a feeling that runs in the back of your mind…call it MAP (Mother Auto Pilot). The idea that this woman could be at the school with her daughter cooking in the parking lot for 8 hours is beyond comprehension. It was mentioned in other articles that the father generally dropped the child off, but that doesn’t matter. If your child is right there with you in a vehicle, that’s much more than a sixth sense.
Regarding the interview video, after seeing it again, there were at least 3 times she looked at the camera and seemed to play to it. And as others have mentioned, the comments in the interview pertained to her, not the child. Remember that she held the child after taking her out of the SUV…yes, she was distraught, but how could you even be interviewed?
There is a judge in Ohio named Lynn Slaby whose wife (in 2004) was a state representative involved in numerous children issues. If someone from Ohio knows more, it would be interesting!
September 8th, 2007 at 3:47 pmI would be curious to know if Brenda Slaby’s husband is possibly Judge Slaby’s son. I also found an interesting site, not sure how accurate it is and it is possible that it is racially written, but none the less it says some interesting things about the DA and Brenda Slaby’s lawyer.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:20 pmhttp://blackcincinnati.blogspot.com/2007/09/has-white-woman-brenda-nesselroad-slaby.html
What was your first clue that it was racially written? Although it may seem out here, the writer of that blog is almost 100% right on course. I don’t think it would be treated any differently if everything about her were the same other than the color of her skin though. There have been several cases that I found when I posted the link WAAAAAAAAY up at the top of this thread where affluent African Americans were also not charged. But what is being said about if Mrs. Slaby were poor is 100% true! In the cases that I found, almost 100% of lower class or poor people were charged with crimes, some negligent type crimes, some manslaughter and some murder. Yes, the court system is biased, that’s very factual. As to what can be done to change this, I’m open for suggestions, because I honestly have no idea.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:36 pmBy the way, the one thing that I did find very interesting on that blog was a case where another child died from heat related injuries due to being left in a car in the same county and the father, in that case, was charged and sent to prison. So why it would be any different in this case, since they are in the same county, makes absolutely no sense to me!
September 8th, 2007 at 5:46 pm“Holly Said: on 9-8-2007 @5:46 pm
By the way, the one thing that I did find very interesting on that blog was a case where another child died from heat related injuries due to being left in a car in the same county and the father…”
Can you point it out please.
September 8th, 2007 at 7:17 pmJust go to the link in post #198 NC. It’s towards the bottom of that page. I’d go back and quote what it says, but the blog has a dark background with white writing that is still bothering my eyes from when I went the first time.
September 8th, 2007 at 7:21 pm“..but the blog has a dark background with white writing that is still bothering my eyes from when I went the first time.”
Me too, the eyes bothered part.
September 8th, 2007 at 7:22 pmAHHHHHH….ok, sorry! I’ll see if I can get one of my kids to do it when they get back from the store. They’re always willing, especially if I bribe them with money….LOL!
I just wish people would realize that websites, blogs etc. with very dark backgrounds and white or bright colored text really messes peoples eyes up!
September 8th, 2007 at 7:36 pmThis may be the site you are referring to…
blackcincinnati.blogspot.com
September 8th, 2007 at 10:47 pmSorry…I couldn’t link it, so copy it to your address bar.
September 8th, 2007 at 10:52 pmThank you Donna, that is the site, but both NC and myself have the same problem. When we visit a website that has a black or dark background with white or brightly colored text it messes with our eyes. Although it’s been a few hours since I did visit that blog, I’m still seeing “floaties” as I look at my monitor while typing this. I don’t know why I have such problems, just that I do. But thank you very much!
September 8th, 2007 at 11:18 pmYou’re very welcome, Holly…sorry I couldn’t link it again! WCPO.com has the entire raw police interview which is rather long and quiet. Her husband is in the room for the majority of the time, but out of camera range. He holds her hand 1 time, briefly, and everyone seems more worried about purses and the media being outside. The officer does repeatedly ask her if she would like to talk to someone and tried to help, but it seems like everyone is in shock.
This incident has bothered and obsessed me deeply and it was interesting to watch this woman and her reaction. This video didn’t seem to show when a man knelt down and held both of her hands, so it is missing parts of what the newsclips showed.
All in all, an extremely tragic and sorrowful event…
September 9th, 2007 at 2:50 amOkay, I read the first few comments and skipped the rest. Lilly is right, everyone else is wrong. While there is such a charge as negligent homicide, the mother did not have the intent to kill her child and is not guilty of murder. The police believed that she forgot the child was in the back, and that the child’s death was punishment enough. Society ain’t got nothing on that. Additionally Lisa, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You should not compare leaving a dog in a car and a child in a car. The child was sleeping in the backseat and wasn’t making any noise. The mother simply forgot to take the child to daycare. The dog situation is much worse because a dog will always bark when others are around. There’s a significant difference between a lack of respect for life and forgetfulness.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:21 am“Donna L Said: on 9-8-2007 @10:47 pm
This may be the site you are referring to…
blackcincinnati.blogspot.com”
It is and thanks but the white on black makes finding the case very difficult. Searching for the word father on the site does not pull up the case.
Oh well.
September 9th, 2007 at 6:28 am“Additionally Lisa, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You should not compare leaving a dog in a car and a child in a car. ”
Ashamed why?
Because she used a comparison, that you do not like or was using the comparison to show that there was more of an uproar, locally, about the actions of an elected and public official.
Do you think that the mother could be charged with Child Endangerment under Ohio Law?
September 9th, 2007 at 6:47 amKurt, if you truly did read all 208 comments before you posted, you’d see that many people started out feeling one way then changed their mind on certain aspects. Especially once it was discovered this mother had done this before and I still stand by the origiginal premise of my post because the amount of attention that this community spent on the Mayor leaving his dog should have created the same if not more outrage by those very same people who offered to take the dog, felt the Mayor should not own a dog, etc and the dog was not harmed. If you agree with Lily’s original premise that since with this mother it was an “accident” whereas with Carty it was on purpose, that’s fine – as you’ve seen here many people seem to focus on that. My focus was on the end result, the dog was not harmed, this toddler died…A majority of the people on this thread who are expressing outrage are from outside of Toledo, some from Cinci area where this happened some from outside of Ohio.
There are a few things in life I’ve done of that I’ve felt shame over. My original blog post isn’t one of them. OT… You’ve been kind of snippy lately, are you in need of a hug?
September 9th, 2007 at 11:23 amWell, after going to WCPO.com and reading the article I just linked, it looks as if the prosecutors office in this case is already in touch with the right people to get the law(s) that kept this case from being prosecuted changed.
This is what, I think, is the only thing any of us can do to “right” what has happened.
There are also links to the police interview, the documents showing that this wasn’t the first time she had left the baby in the car alone and a link to an article stating that the status of Mrs. Slaby’s job is to be reviewed at the schools board meeting, which will be held tomorrow night. I have bookmarked the website to watch and see what decision is made about her job.
September 9th, 2007 at 1:24 pmThe School District is between a rock and a hard place. Their hands are tied to just what they can do. Slaby has stated she wants to return to work. She makes $77,000 plus benefits a year. She just signed a new two year contract. They could transfer to another school, buy out her contract.
But I don’t understand how they couldn’t charge her with anything when she was warned at her daughters school, in fact it was put into writing. “No child shall be left alone inside the building or in a car in the parking lot.” To me she didn’t heed the warning there for she could/should have been charged with child endangerment or negligent homicide. Being as he was warned that her practice of leaving the child in the car, no matter how many minutes, no to do it.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:49 pmShe wants to return to work???????? What kind of delusion is she experiencing? She thinks she can effectively work in any school district when it’s common knowledge what happened? Like the kids wouldn’t throw it in her face whenever they got in trouble? How does this woman expect to legitimately give children lectures about discipline and responsibility and expect to be taken seriously? It won’t work.
For what it’s worth, I am also of the opinion she should be charged with negligent homicide. Any parent who forgets a child in a hot car should be charged. What does that say about our priorities as a society when dog fighting is prosecuted more vigorously? I love dogs, too, but do we value our children less than our pets? Apparently so. You had a change in routine? TOUGH.
September 9th, 2007 at 4:57 pmI am also surprised about the returning to work part. If I were her I’d never want to step foot in that PARKING LOT again, let alone the school. With the memories and the stigma she must be and will be experiencing, plus what her husband and other child must be experiencing, I think I’d want to move far away where maybe no one has heard of me. And I guess with no criminal record, she shouldn’t have a problem getting another job in another school somewhere…
September 10th, 2007 at 10:29 amI think it is time for action . We all sit hear on our computers giving our opinion about this story when we should be doing something about it. Ohio is one of the few states that does not have legislation in place to protect children left alone in cars.There are currently twelve states with legislation in place and 13 more states with pending legislation. It happens far more frequently than you think. It seems to me that no one is standing up for poor little Ceclia. Let us make her short little life stand for something and get laws passed in Ohio that will protect children from lazy parents.
September 12th, 2007 at 3:04 pmThis Slaby lady was very lazy as evidenced by her actions. Leaving her child in the car several times noticed by the folks at the daycare, taking her child asleep from her bed to a car to be dropped at a sitters, going into the bakery alone once again leaving the child who she had thought about minutes earlier because she said it was too early to drop her off.How lazy can a person be. It takes just a few minutes to dress a child, wash their face , change a diaper or potty them. By doing all these things she would have had an awake child to interact with and she would not have forgotten her.I bet she wishes she could do any of these things again, but God gave her warnings and took her baby back when she failed her.
KidsInCars.org is a non-profit organization started by parents of a child who was killed in a park by two small children left alone in a car, who put the car into gear and ran over their son. Don White said in his interpretation of the law that he could not prosecute her.( Have you started any processes to get the laws changed Mr. White? I should think that by the public outcry you would get this going if you want to be elected next time.)
Let’s begin this process ourselves and have the law be called the Cecelia Law. Let no child be left in a car for even one minute. Children left unattended in cars are done so for the parent’s convenience. Begin by writing or emailing your Congress person to get new laws on the books so no other children will die all alone crying and screaming in a hot car.
Well stated, Pam. Our children should be the top priorities, regardless of how inconvenient it may be to us or them and our busy schedules. We’re doing it all for them afterall. It’s better to have a fussy, uncomfortable child who is properly cared for than a dead child who was left to sleep and forgotten. That’s one way of teaching our children responsibility.
September 13th, 2007 at 9:45 amFolks, here is the page for contacting your Ohio Senator:
http://www.senate.state.oh.us/how/contact.html
And here is a quote from the page: (I believe that we have an idea for a bill, right?)
Members of the Ohio Senate need your guidance to represent you effectively. You should always feel free to call or write your legislator to express your support or opposition to legislation, to relate an idea for a bill, or to get help with personal matters involving state agencies.
September 13th, 2007 at 10:26 amI have a son who is eight months old and i’m finding it hard to believe that she would just forget her child. She should be found guilty and tried for murder. Leaving your child in a car unattented even for one second should be a crime.
September 13th, 2007 at 8:53 pmI believe with all my heart that ANYONE who could forget their own child should not have children!!!
I am a mother of a 19 month old & one on the way.
I always know where my child is. What he’s doing. Let alone go 8 hours!!! C’mon people. Get Real.
I hope she never sees the light of day again. She will have to live with this for the rest of her life & I hope that she feels the pain of every burning moment. My heart is simply in pieces for that child.
It is murder!! Flat out. No If’s, and’s for but’s! Child Abuse, Neglect. All of the above!
If you believe otherwise, May who ever you believe in have mercy on your soul!
September 14th, 2007 at 1:19 amHi folks, for those of you not local to Cincy, I am going to post the links of a couple of interesting articles.
Here is the first intereview the mother has given, discussing the incident. Anybody following this blog knows I have mixed feelings on the situation and mercy for the mother, but I don’t feel she comes off very sympathetically in this article–especially when she refers to herself as a “tough cookie” (that kinda made me mad) and talks so much about wanting to go back to work, without ever alluding to how hard it might be to be back at the school, etc.
I want to point out though, for those of you saying you can’t believe she went the whole day and never thought of her kids: she mentions even having conversations about her children with co-workers that day, but it just never “clicked,” that she hadn’t dropped Cecilia off.
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070914/NEWS01/309140005/-1/CINCI
September 14th, 2007 at 9:37 amHere’s another one–those critical of the prosecutor in this case might be surprised about this one! Don White, the prosecutor, is personally ensuring that a bill is sent to the Ohio Legislature to change the law so that someone COULD be charged in the future for situations like Brenda Slaby’s!
So I believe it shows that Don White truly in his heart felt that Brenda Slaby SHOULD have been charged with SOMETHING, but couldn’t find a way to do it under current Ohio law, so he has put the attorneys in his office at work to fix that.
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070914/NEWS01/709140438/1056/COL02
September 14th, 2007 at 9:41 amFinally, Jim Borgman, famous cartoonist’s, take on the case:
http://borgman.enquirer.com/weekly/daily_html/2007/09/091407borgman.html
September 14th, 2007 at 9:44 am“I don’t know how you punish somebody for something that was an accident,” Nesselroad-Slaby said Thursday of White’s proposal. “A law is to prevent something, but you can’t prevent something that’s an accident”
The ignorance in that statement indicates the way Nesselroad-Slaby thinks. If you are involved in a car accident in which the other vehicle hits you without any warning, that is an accident. If you take the wrong turn and drive off a cliff, that is an accident. If you drop and break a piece of family heirloom crystal, that is an accident. BUT, if you don’t have the common sense and intelligence to check your vehicle, for anything, before you leave it, that is stupidity and negligence! Look at it this way…if she had put the donuts or the juice on the backseat floor or even in the front, this tragedy probably wouldn’t have happened. So she remembered where those things were, but couldn’t remember her daughter! And all she had to do was check the vehicle before she left it…a simple “intelligent” thing to do! Sorry, but that’s not an accident in my book!
September 14th, 2007 at 12:18 pmhttp://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070917/NEWS01/309170007/-1/CINCI
More comments from Brenda Slaby.
September 17th, 2007 at 10:56 amAs someone said in a letter to the editor in the Cincinnati Enquirer today, if you had a briefcase with a million dollars in cash in your car, you wouldn’t forget about it…THIS SAYS IT ALL…
September 17th, 2007 at 6:29 pm[...] No more details have been published than what’s in this story. So it’s hard to say for sure whether it will turn into anything like the mother, the SUV and the donuts case. [...]
September 24th, 2007 at 12:23 pmSEND HER TO JAIL!!!!!!
October 1st, 2007 at 9:58 pmIt’s plain and simple. We’ve created a society that puts careers/jobs first and children last. If we’re stay at home mom’s then we’re all running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get everything done in one day. That includes buying groceries, making meals, housekeeping, paying bills, driving kids to their activities and countless other responsibilities we mother’s have. We are over extending ourselves and it’s showing. It’s evident in how we are treating our children, how communication with our spouses is nil and how something as simple as remembering to take your child out of the car when you’ve reached your destination is a big deal. I’m the mother of a 3.5 year old and I have NEVER forgotten him anywhere! I once forgot my purse at Hallmark, forgot my leftovers at Norm’s, forgot my pin number, forgot where I left my car keys, forgot my jacket at Disneyland, forgot my wallet at Cosco…well you get the picture. If I don’t see my son for 5 minutes or if the house is silent for a moment I go look for him. I cannot for the life of me understand how hours can go by without missing your child. (???) I don’t want anyone telling me “you just don’t know until you’re in someone’s shoes”. I wish we would stop making excuses for people who are neglectful with their children. Children are innocent beings that look to us for safety, comfort and love. It’s out parental duty to provide it. Whew! I feel better now.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:24 am