GA - Suspicion over heat death of Cooper, 22 mo., Cobb County, June 2014, #2

[LisaB]

Was the child developmentally normal?
I can't imagine the child not talking...


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Per the above-quoted article, he liked to say "bye" to cars and trucks on the road and had just learned "red" so would say things like "By red truck" or "bye red car".

Seems pretty appropriate developmentally for an almost-2-year-old.

 

[JudyBolton]

Oh my! Can anyone speculate, based on this info, how long he suffered? Sorry, I know it's hard to discuss, but I have just been sick thinking of his experience? Thanks.

Me, too. My hope and prayers is that he fell asleep - and just never completely woke up. I don't know if that is possible - especially if there was vomit involved. Sometimes things are just too awful to imagine.... so I try to think of the best case and in this case that is the only thing I came up with.

 

[LisaB]

Right but this is pure speculation. We don't know what time he typically leaves. The mom normally picked up Cooper so I'm guessing him leaving around 4 has other significance over it being his normal get off work time. My husband leaves his company any time he wants for lunch. Most times he eats at his desk. We have no idea at this time what time he went to the car or how long after he worked

Sounds as if he left work earlier than normal... in fact, earlier than the time his wife would have been expected to pick the baby up at the daycare. Otherwise, she'd have called and asked where the baby was, and he needed to be the one to discover the "error". I would presume that he normally worked later than the time the mother picked the baby up, as it would make sense for the one who got off first to get the child.

 

[Karmady]

Call me what you will, but I believe they should HAVE to live with it. I also don't think personal guilt should replace holding one legally responsible.

I was talking about her husband's specific response to the OP"s "argument" about why they're different. He said they're not different because in both cases you have to deal with guilt. I was just pointing out a way they are VERY different imo

 

[gngr~snap]

http://www.ggweather.com/heat/heating-small.wmv
A 10 fold increase since the early 1990's?
Airbags and putting kids rear facing in the back seat HAS to be part of the reason for the increase.

I hate the backward facing idea. Now I want car manufacturers to turn the whole backseat around! Anyone remember riding backwards in station wagons?
Something needs to be done, IMO these #'s are rediculous.
moo

There is a good animation of a car heating up here as well.

 

[blue22]

I was talking about her husband's specific response to the OP"s "argument" about why they're different. He said they're not different because in both cases you have to deal with guilt. I was just pointing out a way they are VERY different imo

I gotcha! :seeya:

 

[katinva]

It has taken me literally all day to catch up on this thread.
The only thing that sticks out to me in the past 24 hrs is the obit. When I read it, I felt like they were trying too hard to include the parents. Especially the love and protect from both parents part.

 

[blue22]

http://www.ggweather.com/heat/heating-small.wmv
A 10 fold increase since the early 1990's?
Airbags and putting kids rear facing in the back seat HAS to be part of the reason for the increase.

I hate the backward facing idea. Now I want car manufacturers to turn the whole backseat around! Anyone remember riding backwards in station wagons?
Something needs to be done, IMO these #'s are rediculous.
moo

There is a good animation of a car heating up here as well.

I truly think it's a lifestyle and mentality thing. I will look up the stats on ages, but I don't believe there is a huge disparity in the amount of rear facing to front facing deaths.

 

[blue22]

It has taken me literally all day to catch up on this thread.
The only thing that sticks out to me in the past 24 hrs is the obit. When I read it, I felt like they were trying too hard to include the parents. Especially the love and protect from both parents part.

It was a dang defense strategy, if you ask me. A real shame.

 

[gngr~snap]

I am trying to read all of the previous posts - may have missed this, but is there any other known case of a parent intentionally killing their child by leaving them in a hot car? TIA

I hadn't ever thought of it before. Now I am wondering.
It's such a horrid death who would do that?

Interesting stats on the link above about charges and who was convicted. It seems 20 states have laws on the books. The others just wing it I guess.
Only 7% involved alcohol or drugs. I was a little surprised.
moo

 

[Linda7NJ]

Per the above-quoted article, he liked to say "bye" to cars and trucks on the road and had just learned "red" so would say things like "By red truck" or "bye red car".



Seems pretty appropriate developmentally for an almost-2-year-old.

Yeah.
I couldn't wait for my own to talk, I encouraged it, talked to him all the time...I was rewarded, in abundance. My kid talked very very early...by the age of 22 months...I swear my ears would bleed. He Talked non stop, all the time, and especially in the car.

In my experience, most kids that age, even when you have no idea what they're saying half the time...have lots to say! Especially considering the child had just eaten, he was wide awake and raring to go...

All IMO


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[hikerchick]

I dont know, I think that most of us are much more likely to be in a serious car accident than we are to come vlose to forgetting our toddlers. I make a point of leaving my purse on the floorboard of the back seat, to where I literally cant get to it without looking right into her car seat. I am NOT willing to have her forward facing sooner than her pediatrician advises.

I don't think that this was an accident, though. I keep going back to the quote about what happened being shocking to the conscience, and I dont think an accident, even one caused by negligence, would fit the bill.

 

[Linda7NJ]

It was a dang defense strategy, if you ask me. A real shame.

I don't know if it's just me...but I would NEVER forgive my husband. "Accident" or not.

I love my husband, but I'd want to literally kill him if he left my child in a hot car to die.


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[LisaB]

Why would he search for information on dogs dying in a hot car? I am sure he knew that Cooper would be dead by the end of the workday. I just don't get why he needed to know that, and why look it up on your work computer? But maybe that is the point. Perhaps he wants people to be confused. He wants us to wonder, why would he search for something so incriminating?

I apologize in advance for saying this, but... he may have assumed the boy would die very quickly. News stories talk about the kids and pets who were left by the people responsible for them after just a half hour or an hour. PROBABLY those are cases where the people were not truthful about how long they were gone.

He may have gone to the car at lunch ASSUMING that he would find the baby dead and report it then. If, instead, he heard choking, vomiting, labored breathing, or movement, he might have gone back in and researched the amount of time it would/should take. It would have been too late to save the child (even if he wanted to) but if the boy was not yet dead, he might have wanted to reassure himself that he WOULD be dead by the end of the work day.

 

[CHERIE.T]

SABBM

Well there you have it. At this point , it looks like murder, NOT an accident.
Wonder what other evidence may have been on this precious little one that made it look intentional ?
A child left accidentally can also perish from hyperthermia... so were there signs of foul play apart from the excessive heat ?
:moo:

I think we will hear something in a few days when the tox report comes back.
What does SSBBM mean? I get the bbm part.

 

[CrazytownUSA]

http://www.ggweather.com/heat/heating-small.wmv
A 10 fold increase since the early 1990's?
Airbags and putting kids rear facing in the back seat HAS to be part of the reason for the increase.

I hate the backward facing idea. Now I want car manufacturers to turn the whole backseat around! Anyone remember riding backwards in station wagons?
Something needs to be done, IMO these #'s are rediculous.
moo

There is a good animation of a car heating up here as well.

And what happened in the early 90's? Mobile phones. The world's #1 distraction in vehicles.

 

[gngr~snap]

I truly think it's a lifestyle and mentality thing. I will look up the stats on ages, but I don't believe there is a huge disparity in the amount of rear facing to front facing deaths.

When compared to injuries or fatalities from vehicular accidents, it has probably lowered those #'s substantially, so a rise in deaths from heat stroke may be acceptable in the eyes of professionals.
weighing the odds , once of prevention pound of cure...

No denying the numbers skyrocketed after 1997.

 

[blue22]

I don't know if it's just me...but I would NEVER forgive my husband. "Accident" or not.

I love my husband, but I'd want to literally kill him if he left my child in a hot car to die.


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I told my husband last night if he left one in the car, he would be safer in jail.

 

[blue22]

When compared to injuries or fatalities from vehicular accidents, it has probably lowered those #'s substantially, so a rise in deaths from heat stroke may be acceptable in the eyes of professionals.
weighing the odds , once of prevention pound of cure...

No denying the numbers skyrocketed after 1998.

Out of 44 heatstroke deaths in 2013, 24 were under 2 years old.

I am still looking at the other years.

 

[CHERIE.T]

I don't know, you are working pretty hard.

Seemingly good people do terrible things all the time. The fact the he seemed like a good father means NOTHING. This is a week old. On top of all the evidence already found, they will have dirt on him. No one is perfect, and what he did happened for a reason.

cbm

That's where I am...he did it for a reason.


For a reason WITHIN MINUTES >>> a few minutes of putting his son in that car seat.
IMOO I think this was very likely planned.
It's not like forgetting your keys on the way out the door or your umbrella when it rains...it's a child!