GA - Suspicion over heat death of Cooper, 22 mo., Cobb County, June 2014, #5

[SStarr33]

The problem is, RH has already admitted to researching 'hot cars' and kids dying in them. And he has admitted that he was afraid that might happen to his family. So how can he claim he did not know what was wrong with Coop when he found him in the steaming hot car at 4 pm? :liar:

Um, the first stage of grief is denial.

 

[newone]

I completely agree. I have noticed that we haven't heard that Harris is on suicide watch.

Thank you!! I was looking online for any evidence of that and found nothing!

 

[SStarr33]

We also have just a taste of the case-just enough to get the warrants. They popped bio dad right away after his interview. LE was shocked and distressed. Little man appears to have been in full rigor and was undoubtedly soiled after such a distressing, cruel death.

The cherry for me is the self serving (jmo) phone call into the funeral. The service should have been about Cooper and dad should have had enough self control not to deflect from that. But he made himself a centerpiece. And then he told the story of the dream he had prior to Coopers death.

We will see how this unfolds, but so far it is enough for me to believe that they should be holding tight to dad.

I think it was very nice that he called into the funeral and was a part of it.

 

[blue22]

they have to convict him of the underlying felony first. Second degree child neglect requires criminal negligence. First degree requires malice. That's why the charge was reduced. The State can't prove malice as of now. Which makes one wonder why they charged malice on day one. jmo

I don't find it uncommon to charge what they hope for from the get go. IMO, it could have gone either way. In cases like that, why not?

 

[sorrell skye]

I completely agree. I have noticed that we haven't heard that Harris is on suicide watch.

That was something I was thinking about last night - that we haven't heard reports about RH being on suicide watch. In many of the cases I've followed, the suspect is put on suicide watch immediately after arrest.

If he was on suicide watch, Cobb County ain't sayin'. If he wasn't on suicide watch, it's because he didn't express or exhibit any warning signs.

 

[SStarr33]

I think the research was the probable cause that led to his arrest. JMO

Probably. And he might have done the search due to a news report of another child dying the same way.

 

[SStarr33]

Something that I wonder about: At any time would he have been required to perform an over-the-shoulder check while driving? Like backing out of a spot, changing lanes, etc. Even if for a short drive. If he had pulled in to his spot at the Chic-Fil-A or work, wouldn't he have seen Cooper in his rear view mirror or noticed him during a shoulder check when leaving? Things we wouldn't know unless we were there, but occurred to me as more opportunities for him to have noticed his son's presence.

Maybe his car has a backup camera, plus the car seat faced the rear.

 

[liltexans]

Per the article I linked above, the child wouldn't turn blue in hyperthermia. I think some people are confusing it with hypothermia (cold). A hot car will, quite frankly, "cook" the child alive.

Children, often too young to escape, are particularly vulnerable because their immature respiratory and circulatory systems do not manage heat as efficiently as adults'. After a short time, the skin grows red and dry, the body becomes unable to produce sweat, and heat stroke kills the child.

http://www.ggweather.com/heat/ap_sentencing.htm

 

[TheMothership]

Was Cooper in the same carseat that's in the picture posted at the top of this thread?

TIA :loveyou:

I have seen pictures of him in 2 seats, both of which he must have long outgrown at 22 months. A 22lb limit Graco Snugride and a Chicco Keyfit (not sure if it was a 22lb limit or a 30lb limit on this one,) both are infant seats.

 

[JLSChook]

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/clip/10304268/cobb-presser#.U6xJ0zlkfBY.facebook

Here's the LE presser where he talks about the tox report. He says, "A week, a month, or 6 weeks"

ETA--This link in the media/information thread does not work. (Popsicle's post). Can someone fix it? Thank you.

 

[lawstudent]

Sentences Vary When Kids Die in Hot Cars



http://www.ggweather.com/heat/ap_sentencing.htm

Interesting article.

It actually surprises me how few cases there are, and how few of those involve drugs or alcohol, which would seem like the most likely factor if this was merely an issue of not paying attention or having the capacity to care about anything.

It seems to break down to women without a babysitter who go to work/get hair done etc. and are "too stupid" to know how dangerous it is, and people on 'autopilot' hyperthinking about something else.

If these women were so reckless and uncaring, it would make more sense to leave the kids at home or running around the parking lot, versus certain death. I really do believe they were too stupid to realize their children would die a painful death. They may not have been super responsible, but I still don't think they had any idea of the danger.

I think the idea of punishing them through community service that involves going around speaking to new parents is a good one. I really believe this is an ignorance issue, and jailing these people doesn't act as a deterrent because people don't watch the news. A lot of people need to be explicitly told this - particularly people who maybe did not grow up in a household with a car (particularly pre-air conditioners) and didn't experience how insanely hot a car can get.

It's definitely hard to believe the 'autopilot' thing - but there really aren't many of these cases, because it takes such a specific set of mental circumstances to cause such a narrow view. If parents manage not to do this 300 times, and then do it the one time, and there's no reason to think they would want to kill their child, I think it is just a freak accident. Humans aren't wired to be dropping off a child and moving on for 8 hours of hard work every day - switching focus like that isn't easy. Modern life has too many different mental modes, and I think it can really screw people up. Leaving a child for 7 hours and not realizing it is quite disturbing, but I can see how they feel like they dropped the child at daycare when they do it so frequently. It's all so horrifying.

 

[sorrell skye]

Still about 6 pages behind, but - God forbid - I left my child in the car by accident and he/she passed away, I cannot imagine "facing" one single person I knew, let alone addressing everyone attending the funeral, even by phone. Setting aside the despair and grief for a second, the shame and self-loathing I would feel for causing my child's death would likely make me withdraw entirely from everyone I knew. I understand that everyone deals with grief differently, but RH's behaviour at the service floored me. IMO

If I did something that caused the death of someone - especially my precious child - I'd probably be so distraught that I'd have to be permanently sedated and restrained or I'd kill myself.

I certainly wouldn't revel in the glory of a standing ovation at my deceased baby's funeral.

 

[ReginaPhalange]

Probably. And he might have done the search due to a news report of another child dying the same way.

Perhaps, but the specific language in the first SW is troublesome. While it is semantics at this point, "child deaths inside vehicles and what temperature it needs to be for that to occur," is not the same as simply googling child deaths in hot vehicles for preventative purposes. The same can be said for the SW released today, "hot-car deaths and how it occurs" Kind of overly specific when a simple search of news stories would tell you more than you needed to know in order to avoid making the same mistake. IMO

 

[newone]

Expecting people to be excellent at multi-tasking is nuts - but I really do believe in first things first. People are more important than things. I won't look at messages from the office or take calls while driving -- and if there is a short sweet person involved -- ''it'll keep" KWIM. I believe people need to work on their personal boundaries with regards to electronic devices and their responsibilities to their family. MOO

I realize that some employers expect 24/7 response from their employees and I believe it is a personal choice whether to accept those demands or not.

I am concerned that work/life balance is not a priority for some folks and it's damage is horrendous.

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

I missed the bottle rocket story, can you fill me in? TIA

Oops!

I believe a WSer shared this information from one of JRH's social media sites... It wasn't in MSM... I just Googled it on MSM... And couldn't find it there...

HTH...:seeya:

 

[paisleyb]

A few thoughts:

- Chick-Fil-A to the parking lot of RH's work is 2 min commute, 0.5 mile according to Google maps. Even adding in a couple extra minutes for traffic, sitting at red lights, etc... would Cooper have been completely quiet or fallen asleep that quickly?

- It's 5 minutes, right under 2 miles, from RH's work to the parking lot RH stopped to get help. How did RH notice then that Cooper was in the back? What cued him in to realize his dead child was in the backseat at that time that was different from a silent/sleeping child on his way to work? Smell? He would've noticed smell as soon as he got in the car when leaving work or in the afternoon when he visited. I just can't get past the many opportunities he had to notice or remember Cooper...

- How could RH not see Cooper or at least the car seat when visiting the car in the afternoon? If it was rear-facing in his smaller SUV, he'd see at least the very top of/back of the seat against his or next to his driver seat. The angle at which you open a car door you are facing in where you see across the car. Wouldn't just the sight of the seat trigger the thought/memory of "Where's my child? I wonder how my child is?"

 

[Baznme]

At this point, I opt to wait for the timeline accuracy and the tox report since I cannot accept that during the course of a 7 hour day and was at that car 3 times, it never dawned on him that his child was still in that car. Not even keeping the computer search in the back of my mind on that. It just seems so impossible to me for someone with an only child.

 

[Karmady]

I don't find it uncommon to charge what they hope for from the get go. IMO, it could have gone either way. In cases like that, why not?

What they hope for? No. Prosecutors are supposed to charge what they can prove. That is their public trust. But even if they don't always follow that, which they often don't, imo, it's still pretty unusual to charge a first degree crime with a death penalty attached and back off it within days. Especially when the backing off is accompanied by the public release of some of the evidence due to public outcry. There's no question in my mind that the way this case was handled is questionable and may ultimately impact the outcome of the trial, if there is one. jmo

 

[jmcgladr]

That was something I was thinking about last night - that we haven't heard reports about RH being on suicide watch. In many of the cases I've followed, the suspect is put on suicide watch immediately after arrest.



If he was on suicide watch, Cobb County ain't sayin'. If he wasn't on suicide watch, it's because he didn't express or exhibit any warning signs.

I don't think he'd kill himself, he is not done getting attention yet!


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[newone]

At this point, I opt to wait for the timeline accuracy and the tox report since I cannot accept that during the course of a 7 hour day and was at that car 3 times, it never dawned on him that his child was still in that car. Not even keeping the computer search in the back of my mind on that. It seems so impossible to me for someone with an only child.

I think it would be appropriate to have tox screen on the accused too - but I haven't heard of anything - It don't know if this is part of the booking process or if a search warrant would be required.