Moms Talk: "Hot Car" Deaths

Lately I feel like I need to put myself on a news diet, turning a blind eye to all the bad news stories relating to children who have been seriously injured or killed due to their caretakers’ alleged negligence. It’s all too much to take.

Of course the granddaddy of these stories is the end of the trial of Casey Anthony, who was found not guilty of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. While I didn’t follow the case closely enough to have any sort of well formed opinion on whether I think Anthony is guilty, I’m truly saddened to think about how we’ll probably never know for sure who killed the little girl, and that justice will likely never be served.

It’s also the time of year when unfortunately we start hearing tragic stories of young children dying after being accidentally left in hot cars. Parents tragically forget their babies are in the car and neglect to drop them off at daycare, or fail to bring the child inside the house with them. Clearly no parent can imagine doing something so absentminded, but it happens often enough to be alarming.

The most recent case in our part of the country happened in Prince William County, VA, where a mother is accused of leaving her 2-year-old son in the family’s minivan for seven hours while she was at work, forgetting to drop him off at daycare. According to a story in the Washington Post, she drove home in the afternoon with her son still strapped in his car seat and didn’t realize where he was until her husband called from daycare at pick-up time to say that their boy wasn’t there.

As a result, the mother has been charged with felony murder and child neglect. The prosecutor said that she is accused of having forgotten her son once before during the winter, though a call from daycare in that instance made her more quickly realize what had happened. That prior situation had put the defendant “on notice,” as the attorney put it, hence bringing this case in front of a grand jury.

These stories are awful to read or watch on TV, and they are even harder to stomach if you have children. You can’t help but empathize with the parents who are in these gut-wrenching situations, and the thought of something terrible happening to one of you own children is unspeakable.

On top of the pain she’s no doubt feeling, do you think the mother in the hot car case deserved to be charged with murder? One could argue that the loss of her child at her hands is punishment enough. But what about the boy? Shouldn’t his death be avenged? Would a conviction serve as justice? Nothing could ever really make it right or bring him back. What do you think?