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I would report anyone who leaves a animal in a car on a hot day in a heartbeat no questions asked. Let the authorities warn me to watch my back. Let's see what happens then. I guarantee you one person would be in jail and the other person would be in the hospital. I would still be walking fyi.
Oh yeah, I'm glad I called the authorities. I know I did the right thing.
But I was 22, fresh out of college, alone in a brand new city. Their warning had me totally freaked out!
Quote:
Originally Posted by himain
I would report anyone who leaves a animal in a car on a hot day in a heartbeat no questions asked. Let the authorities warn me to watch my back. Let's see what happens then. I guarantee you one person would be in jail and the other person would be in the hospital. I would still be walking fyi.
If it was a child, I wouldn't think twice..
If it was an animal and depending the situation, I would first.. if possible, have the person paged.. within 5 minutes if nothing is done, I will break the window or call the cops and ask what to do.
As far as Metal's comments, I agree, I remember the story from Florida. Yes she was neglengent, but lets take emotion out of the picture, which in legal sense you have to do. Was it intentional? No? What would jail time do for the situation, leave 2 kids without mom, tax the system, and punish her more? Totally depends on the situation. There is no excuse and no passes, but lets also use logic.
Again.. this situation is horrible, and I know too many incidents, people playing video games too long, drinking, etc. Lets make sure we crush those who deserve to be crushed and help those who need help.
A few months after I left Florida, I got word from a former co-worker that someone at the City I worked at left her 1 year old in the car all day and it died. Apparently the husband was the one who normally took teh kids to school and day care...he was out of town so she had to do it...apparently the kid fell asleep on the way to work, all the way in the back of the van. After the 30-45 minute drive to work, the lady just forgot the kid was back there. Didn't come back out until lunch time and realized what she had done.
The super scary thing for me is I can be absent minded like this. Granted, I don't have a kid, so I can't relate to the level of responsibility that coems with a kid...but I can relate with the feeling of "oh crap, where's the reset button?!?!"
The sad part was the state threatened murder charges on the mother, who's life was obviously turned upside-down and wrecked already...AND still had to care for two other survivng children. On one hand I can relate with the message that needs to be sent for neglegence...on the other hand, I doubt there's any punishment that can be worse than living the rest of your life knowing you killed your kid. So I sway in teh direction of go ahead and investigate, but don't throw words around like "murder" or "manslaughter" until you are 1000% sure that's what it was. People make mistakes.
Being a parent is a state of mind. No matter how distracted or absent minded you are, once you become a parent is impossible to get disconnected of your responsibility or just to forget about the little one that relies and depend on you and no matter who's kid is in danger you will do whatever it takes to help him/her to be safe.
I caught this same feedback on another forum back when this happened...so maybe it's my lack of parental expereince. Maybe I'll change my point of view when I have a kid of my own.
Whytewulf explained it as I should have. In her specific case, it was nowhere near intentional. So what does branding her a felon do? Just as Wulf described...and enables others to say "she got what she deserved." That's why I said investigate...and if it's found to be anyhting other than an honest (albeit horrific) mistake, move along. If the parent's irresponsibleness (forgetfulness is not always irresponsible) led to the accident, throw the book at them.
Stand by the car, and call 911 immediately. If the child is clearly in distress, sweating, or worse, red and not sweating, non responsive, open your trunk take out your lug wrench and break out the side window furthest from the child then get the child out. If you can't break the window, yell for help from passer-byes.
Have to say I have never forgotten the kids were in the car. I will admit I have left them in the car while I went in to pay for gas- get milk...whatever. After the last few days, I will certainly be changing that habit too. Too many whackos out there!!
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