GA - Suspicion over heat death of Cooper, 22 mo., Cobb County, June 2014, #7

[Lovejac]

I want to know why Harris initially drove south rather than north towards his home when he left work. Was he heading south to meet up with his friends? If so, why turn around and go north again and stop in a shopping center? He had his phone with him. He could have pulled over anywhere and called 911.

I also want to know why he lied to LE when they asked him if his car had been left unattended all day. He said it had been, but they discovered that he returned to his car around lunch time, opened the door, and placed something inside the car.

I'm sure he claimed he "forgot" that he had gone back to his car.

ETA: Ya know, that's another thing that sticks in my craw! All the other cases, parent's replay all their steps throughout the day looking for missed opportunities in discovering their child. If I were RH, I would have said, "OMG, I went to my car around 11:45 to put ______ in it! If only I had looked at his car seat he might still be alive!" But no, not this guy. He tells LE that he parked his car a little after 9 am and that was that. LE had to pull video to see that he DID have contact with his car after that AND that he had even opened the car door. Yet another reason why I believe this intentional.

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

Rape laws don't prevent rape. Murder laws don't prevent murder. Drunk driving laws don't prevent drunk driving. Should we not have those? Of course not! We create these laws to punish those who harm others.

We have enough laws. And again you made my point. It won'r prevent a thing. It can help punish but they are not preemptive.

More laws won't help either. Parents are over governed as it is.

 

[2boymomma]

I have a "mission" for one of you who is local... Can you find Google street view of the CORRECT Home Depot location (It keeps taking me to a retail store) and "walk around the parking lot" to see where he normally parks? We know the make and model of his car and the tag number as well. I know I just found my car in my work parking lot (not live, obviously, I now park in a different lot) and in front of my home. Can someone tell us where his car was parked in the Google images?

That appears to be a light blue Tucson parked under that tree. The reserved spaces you see in the front are the first row across the street from the building.

 

[popsicle]

I think there is only one logical reason they both researched it: one was doing it or had done it and the other was against it. iow, to prove a point; to prove the other person wrong.

Pretty obvious to me which one was for it and which one was against it.

JMO

Or, she researched it after seeing a story on the news and he saw an opportunity for an out. jmo

 

[liltexans]

I'm sure he claimed he "forgot" that he had gone back to his car.

ETA: Ya know, that's another thing that sticks in my craw! All the other cases, parent's replay all their steps throughout the day looking for missed opportunities in discovering their child. If I were RH, I would have said, "OMG, I went to my car around 11:45 to put ______ in it! If only I had looked at his car seat he might still be alive!" But no, not this guy. He tells LE that he parked his car a little after 9 am and that was that. LE had to pull video to see that he DID have contact with his car after that AND that he had even opened the car door. Yet another reason why I believe this intentional.

I agree with you. He seems to have problems with his memory, at least with his short-term memory. It's a good thing he has an attorney who specializes in mental illness defenses.

 

[Kip]

I don't consider just putting something in your car attending to it.

Does that make sense?

It makes sense to me. If I had just run out to the parking lot to put something in my car, I probably would have answered yes if someone asked me if my car had be "unattended to" all day.

However, I think that it's probably a very poor choice of words from LE. They should have just asked if he had returned to the car at any time during the day after first parking it in the morning.

 

[gngr~snap]

doesn't look too happy here either:

http://worldnewsandwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/d44-200x125.jpg

Wouldn't it be cool if there was a "selfie" that clearly showed Cooper's head behind JRH right shoulder? As in no disputing he had to have seen him?

JRH is 6'2" LH isn't tall, but I have to say with tall genes he may have been an avg to tall 22 mo old. (not tiny)
moo

 

[Spice]

I'm sure he claimed he "forgot" that he had gone back to his car.

ETA: Ya know, that's another thing that sticks in my craw! All the other cases, parent's replay all their steps throughout the day looking for missed opportunities in discovering their child. If I were RH, I would have said, "OMG, I went to my car around 11:45 to put ______ in it! If only I had looked at his car seat he might still be alive!" But no, not this guy. He tells LE that he parked his car a little after 9 am and that was that. LE had to pull video to see that he DID have contact with his car after that AND that he had even opened the car door. Yet another reason why I believe this intentional.

HE DID?!!!!! I had no idea that he lied by omission. Seriously? Just wow.

Did he really only offer that he parked his car at 9 am and went into work? If so, that would mean he left out Chikfila, as that is where they were at 9:00 A.M.

And that would totally explain LE's statement that they were not even sure that Cooper was in the car at 9:00 A.M.. Maybe he never told them about breakfast and they found out about it somehow. Or maybe he didn't tell them right away and then "suddenly remembered" that they went to breakfast.

 

[Violet1820]

I'm sure he claimed he "forgot" that he had gone back to his car.

ETA: Ya know, that's another thing that sticks in my craw! All the other cases, parent's replay all their steps throughout the day looking for missed opportunities in discovering their child. If I were RH, I would have said, "OMG, I went to my car around 11:45 to put ______ in it! If only I had looked at his car seat he might still be alive!" But no, not this guy. He tells LE that he parked his car a little after 9 am and that was that. LE had to pull video to see that he DID have contact with his car after that AND that he had even opened the car door. Yet another reason why I believe this intentional.

Agreed. I just had a premonition that if RH were to take the stand in a trail we would hear a lot of "I do not recall".

 

[Kimberlyd125]

IMO scanning a parking lot to make sure there are no children or animals locked in hot cars is in no way searching cars without a warrant. That's a huge stretch IMO.

There are reasons your tint can not be too dark. One of those reasons is so that LE can see inside the vehicle.

JMO

 

[LisaB]

Sorry but that is absolutely bizarre to me. Most parents would be speaking about the special times and milestones their departed child won't get to experience (first day of school, first crush, prom, first date, first job, etc). Just such a bizarre way of looking at things, IMO.

Even "Mom-Of-The-Year" Billie Dunn was talking about the positive things Hailey would miss out on!

 

[Chewy]

Some posts are just better ignored. I know what you mean.

There are enough laws in place and more is not going to prevent deaths, especially if the are not intentional accidental deaths.

Parking lots are private property in most cases and I don't want police looking in my car. They just ruled against police searching cell phones without a warrant. Police should have a warrant to search most everything IMO.

Great point :loveyou::twocents:


blue22 you said you have a similar car, are your windows tinted ?

 

[laceandruffles]

I am of the "we don't need more laws, we need to enforce the ones we have better" opinion. Although I firmly support the addition of laws such as making it illegal to not report your child "missing" when they have inexplicably left your care and you cannot produce them. The idea that it is not illegal to not report your child is no longer in your care and then when it is discovered refuse to produce the new caregiver or the child is utterly ridiculous to me.

But generally speaking if we enforced or interpreted the millions of laws already on the books properly or better we would not need to constantly be adding more. JMO

BBM

I agree.

Except, clearly, some laws need clarification. We are debating here, negligence of a child. We are debating whether leaving a child in his/her car seat, on a 90+ degree day, is negligent. Since GA law does not specifically state that leaving your 22 month old child unattended, strapped in a car seat for 7 hours is negligence, there are folks that are defending this behavior and condemning those trying to protect the child.

Shaking my head, I have been trying for days now to understand defending this and I just don't get it. I don't understand how this case is even debatable.

 

[blue22]

We have enough laws. And again you made my point. It won'r prevent a thing. It can help punish but they are not preemptive.

More laws won't help either. Parents are over governed as it is.

So you think rape and murder laws are pointless and they should go unpunished? You don't think if certain things are happening time and time again, we have to react with a law punishing those who do these things?

We didn't used to have voyeurism laws, but we responded to people getting taped without consent. We didn't use to have drunk driving laws, but we responded with punishing those who do so. I don't think placing laws that respond to child deaths, is violating anyone's personal liberties. Punishment laws are not made to prevent, they are made to punish. PERIOD. The only way kids won't keep baking in cars, is if parents decide to do their jobs. No one suggests a law will make them do that, but you bet I don't want people getting away with it.

 

[chlban]

I agree 100%! I also have dogs and have never ever looked this up. Honestly even just the thought of it alone makes me sick. Let alone researching any sort of details, I personally could not stomach it. I love my pups and I would never want them to suffer this type of pain or agony even for a minute. To that, never have I ever forgotten when they are with me. The "fear" of leaving them in the car has never even crossed my mind. I fear they could get hit by a car, or get cancer, or eat something poisonous...but never that I would forget they are in my car. I understand many people don't value you dogs the same way. So please do not let this start a debate. To me they are my babies, in this case it was literally a baby.

I am the same way with my pups, so I get it. And I also 100% agree. There is no way I would "forget" them and because of safety concerns (airbags can also kill dogs) mine ride in the back and are well behaved and love to ride.

Still, the idea of forgetting? and not just for a few minutes, but an entire day?

Then to go back to the car at lunch and still not notice?

And then when he re-enters the car 6 1/2 hours later he doesn't immediately notice the smell?

No way. It just doesn't wash for me. Too many things here do not make sense.

 

[SStarr33]

It makes sense to me. If I had just run out to the parking lot to put something in my car, I probably would have answered yes if someone asked me if my car had be "unattended to" all day.

However, I think that it's probably a very poor choice of words from LE. They should have just asked if he had returned to the car at any time during the day after first parking it in the morning.

Agree. If that is the way LE worded it, his attorneys will be all over it.

 

[liltexans]

Agreed. I just had a premonition that if RH were to take the stand in a trail we would hear a lot of "I do not recall".

Yes, and the Jodi Arias "fog" defense may come into play, too.

 

[Spice]

That appears to be a light blue Tucson parked under that tree. The reserved spaces you see in the front are the first row across the street from the building.

That car is small and by no means the size of a large "SUV."

There is no way he did not see him while driving. No way.

 

[CrazytownUSA]

I agree 100%! I also have dogs and have never ever looked this up. Honestly even just the thought of it alone makes me sick. Let alone researching any sort of details, I personally could not stomach it. I love my pups and I would never want them to suffer this type of pain or agony even for a minute. To that, never have I ever forgotten when they are with me. The "fear" of leaving them in the car has never even crossed my mind. I fear they could get hit by a car, or get cancer, or eat something poisonous...but never that I would forget they are in my car. I understand many people don't value you dogs the same way. So please do not let this start a debate. To me they are my babies, in this case it was literally a baby.

I'm with you there... I have looked up many things, but to look up what temperature it has to be for a child to die in a car? No... and the fact that it actually happened very soon after the search? Like I have said, parents know that any amount of time is too long to leave a child in a car, a hot car even more... unless there analytics supporting him searching on topics regarding how to avoid forgetting your child in the car (since apparently he had a fear it could happen?), then maybe I might have some doubt... but if you are truly scared that something like that could happen, your search would be based on avoidance of such a thing happening.

It's crazy that people don't actually see the search as a problem. Say a wife shoots her husband in the stomach and kills him, and they find that just earlier she had been googling "can a person die from being shot in the stomach and how long does it take for them to die?", it would be like her claiming she only googled it because she had a fear of being shot in the stomach.

 

[blue22]

Great point :loveyou::twocents:


blue22 you said you have a similar car, are your windows tinted ?

Well, it's certainly interesting that you share the love on someone telling a poster to ignore me, and in the same breath want information from me. :facepalm:

Yes, my windows are tinted. The back more than the front (as standard) but I can see a car seat and child when I walk up to my car.