GUILTY FL - Kaleb Cronk, 13 mos, killed in hit & run, Palatka, 31 March 2010

[mysticrose]

FHP: Car Hit Crawling Baby; Child Dies
Troopers Say 13-Month-Old Was Hit Crawling In Private Drive

POSTED: Thursday, April 1, 2010
UPDATED: 5:07 pm EDT April 1,2010

PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. -- Putnam County deputies and the Florida Highway Patrol are on the hunt for a driver who ran over a baby, then took off. The baby has since died from his injuries.

The FHP said 13-month-old Caleb Cronk was crawling across a private drive at the Silver Lake Oaks Mobile Home Park in Palatka about 6 p.m. Wednesday when he was hit by a car.

Amy Sowell, Caleb's mother, said Caleb was playing with other children ages 3 and 4 outside. She said she went inside to go to the bathroom and her neighbor ran over and told her about the accident

http://www.news4jax.com/news/23022244/detail.html

 

[mysticrose]

Here is the news video:

http://www.news4jax.com/video/23025398/index.html

 

[mysticrose]

I don't know what to say ...

 

[AutomaticAuttie]

Who in there right mind leaves a 13 month old outside while they run in to go to the bathroom......are you kidding me!

 

[AutomaticAuttie]

Also, imo this mother looks like a trashy tweaker!

 

[mysticrose]

Well I know I would never leave my 13 month old outside while I went to the bathroom especially with 3 and 4 year olds ?
But who in the @#$% runs over a crawling child to begin with and then speeds off ? It is not like the child was in the middle of the Interstate !

I hope they can catch who did this, someone in the MH park will know who it is and I hope they will come forward...

 

[AutomaticAuttie]

Well I know I would never leave my 13 month old outside while I went to the bathroom especially with 3 and 4 year olds ?
But who in the @#$% runs over a crawling child to begin with and then speeds off ? It is not like the child was in the middle of the Interstate !

I hope they can catch who did this, someone in the MH park will know who it is and I hope they will come forward...

I could see someone accidentally hitting the child, if they didn't see them. But not fleeing the scene.

 

[BeanE]

Oh my God how could somebody run over a baby and take off and not jump out and see if you can save the baby! What in God's name is wrong with people.

 

[Beyond Belief]

This is very weird. Someone on that curve knows who was driving that truck.

 

[jjenny]

Oh my God how could somebody run over a baby and take off and not jump out and see if you can save the baby! What in God's name is wrong with people.

Why was the baby crawling where the cars drive, and with the mother in the bathroom?
Frankly maybe that person who drove over the baby did not see the baby at all. I don't expect babies crawling in the way of a car when I drive.

 

[STEADFAST]

It seems possible someone could back up to turn around and not see or feel a baby crawling on a driveway. No one would ever expect a baby to come crawling across there.

 

[jjenny]

It seems possible someone could back up to turn around and not see or feel a baby crawling on a driveway. No one would ever expect a baby to come crawling across there.

From watching the video, I believe the baby was on the road going out of trailer park. Private drive ( a small road going out of a trailer park) and not a driveway.

 

[laura08]

The mother should have never left that baby and the other toddlers outside by themselves. Thankfully the other two children are okay because it could have been alot worse. And if the neighbor witnessed the accident, she should have asked the neighbor to hold her baby till she came back outside.In the video mother stated he was a fast crawler, didn't it occur he may crawl into the road when she was in the bathroom. This could have been prevented hopefully others will hear the story and realize that driveways are no place for babies, kids to play. I'm curious to know if the person who hit him didn't realize they hit him. Rip little Caleb

 

[MistyM]

when my first son was about a year i remember being in his room laying on the floor on the phone with his aunt, and he was waddling around in and out of the room... in five minutes he had figured out how to open the front door crawl across the lawn and skitter around a parked car on our VERY busy street, till a neighbour across the way saw him and ran across bringing him up to my front door crying. that was horrifying and i still get choked up about it when i think about it today (my son is 16 now).

 

[mayelf]

I remember those days... 1 year old and he's in the toilet... on the toilet.. in a matter of seconds..

But to leave the child outside?? That's ridiculous! I don't even let my 4 year old play outside without me about 10 feet away. So was there other parents watching the 1 year old when she ran inside?? GEEZ.

Another tragedy Mothers are supposed to protect their children at all costs!

 

[mayelf]

I know it wont help much now but I suggest the park build speed bumps on that road to slow down traffic. My trailer park has them every 20 feet or so, but the traffic here is very slow and seldom. It helps.

 

[DairyGirl]

I don't want to rub salt into a wound but that baby never should have been left alone, much less then the 3 and 4 year old. You can't take your eyes off kids for a minute or they will be into something. I take my grandkids with me when I use the bathroom.

 

[jjenny]

Also, the vehicle that hit the baby is supposedly the truck. The truck is higher off the ground which might make it harder to see the baby crawling on the ground.
Maybe that person doesn't even know what had happened?

 

[Belinda]

It is simply mind boggling that this woman left a baby outside near the road. Had she done her job as a mother, this was completely and entirely preventable. This is very basic parenting. No brain surgeon needed. I suspect the driver of the truck has no idea they hit a child. To me, this is 100% the mothers fault. You do not leave young children alone, period. Is she also the mother of the toddlers? If not, where the hell were those mothers?

 

[Peachy]

We heard this call on the scanner in the scanner thread.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99306&page=19

The area where this happened is an area we hear quite often on the scanner for drugs, fighting, etc. It's not a good area at all.

I would guess the driver was on drugs and either never knew he hit Caleb or took off because he had drugs in his system.

Such a sad, senseless tragedy which could have been avoided had the mother not been negligent and the driver more observant.

RIP Caleb