TX - Autistic boy, 8, throws twin sisters down stairs, killing one

[philamena]

Speaking of baby monitors, here is a story for you...

We had a baby monitor in the nursery. One night we were standing in the room and I was changing the sheets on the crib. My husband was standing there talking to me (just generalities) and the phone rang. It was our next door neighbor and they had a newborn.They called to tell us they were picking up our conversation on THEIR baby monitor. They said "We are so glad you weren't talking about US we might have been too embarrassed to call you!" LOL

:silenced: Hope the parents who use monitors here are paying attention to your post.

 

[txsvicki]

I know the parents were in their bed, that was written in the article. My question was rhetorical.
Sorry, but I highly disagree with you about the baby monitors. The parents should have been watching and listening for their kids, especially in a new home. Not anticipate this happening? Maybe not but you can pretty much bet the farm that this wasn't the first time the mentally diminished older boy tried to hurt the babies. It would be interesting to hear other facts about this case but that won't happen. The 8 year old, IF he did this will never be punished for murder...accident or not.

I agree with you, there should have been a monitor especially with a possibly voilent diminished capacity child in the home with stairs. I hope all the kids weren't sleeping in one room. Maybe the boy thought literally, that if he threw the babies down the stairs, they would be gone and wouldn't bother him by crying or taking the parents' attention.

 

[Glow]

I agree with you here, am terribly embarrased to say, but my ex-husband was a fan of the 1-900 sex numbers...one morning after he got up for work I heard weird noises on the baby monitor, for no reason whatsoever I picked up the phone and heard a 1-900 recording...went nuts of course...my ex-hubby tried to say he'd called his employer but got the wrong number...YEAH RIGHT (thank God I am rid of him!)....anyway just meaning to say that monitors pick up stuff you wouldn't believe it interefered with it ....and as I said before, even just a few feet away I still needed a monitor, due to my need for noise, fans and/or an air conditioner.

Just one of many reasons he is THE EX, right?

 

[Glow]

:silenced: Hope the parents who use monitors here are paying attention to your post.

Yes! Suburbia beware

 

[White Rain]

Just one of many reasons he is THE EX, right?

One of MANY, you got that right!

 

[Taximom]

Speaking of baby monitors, here is a story for you...

We had a baby monitor in the nursery. One night we were standing in the room and I was changing the sheets on the crib. My husband was standing there talking to me (just generalities) and the phone rang. It was our next door neighbor and they had a newborn.They called to tell us they were picking up our conversation on THEIR baby monitor. They said "We are so glad you weren't talking about US we might have been too embarrassed to call you!" LOL

Ours picked up a crying baby that went on for quite a long time (even during the day) but we never knew who it was. I just wanted to go to that house and pick up that poor baby.

 

[White Rain]

Ours picked up a crying baby that went on for quite a long time (even during the day) but we never knew who it was. I just wanted to go to that house and pick up that poor baby.

It's NOT just babies that the monitors pick up, although I appreciate what you WANTED to do!

 

[Bobbisangel]

This is just a terribly sad story. I would think that if the 8 yr old had tried to hurt the twin babies before that the parents would have had some type of safety set up. Maybe he had never been mean to them or hurt them before.
It could be too that they do have monitors and just hadn't gotten everything unpacked. They have a huge house and I would imagine that they had a lot to unpack. I know how tiring moving is and can understand the parents just falling into bed at 4:30 in the morning just exhusted from packing and then the long drive and then unpacking the things that they would need right away. I can remember just setting the beds up and making them and unpacking the kitchen and getting it arranged and that was it until the next day. I was just to tired to go any further.

I can't begin to imagine how these parents are feeling today. They have lost a baby due to another of their children. Will they want to stay in their new house where their baby died? I would imagine they are dealing with all kinds of emotions right now. I wonder what exactly is wrong with the 8 yr old. I hope that they never hear or read anything that even hints that they were neglectful parents.

 

[southcitymom]

This is just a terribly sad story. I would think that if the 8 yr old had tried to hurt the twin babies before that the parents would have had some type of safety set up. Maybe he had never been mean to them or hurt them before.
It could be too that they do have monitors and just hadn't gotten everything unpacked. They have a huge house and I would imagine that they had a lot to unpack. I know how tiring moving is and can understand the parents just falling into bed at 4:30 in the morning just exhusted from packing and then the long drive and then unpacking the things that they would need right away. I can remember just setting the beds up and making them and unpacking the kitchen and getting it arranged and that was it until the next day. I was just to tired to go any further.

I can't begin to imagine how these parents are feeling today. They have lost a baby due to another of their children. Will they want to stay in their new house where their baby died? I would imagine they are dealing with all kinds of emotions right now. I wonder what exactly is wrong with the 8 yr old. I hope that they never hear or read anything that even hints that they were neglectful parents.

Me too - but if they stumble onto this thread, that won't be the case!

 

[SewingDeb]

Baby Dies After Being Dropped Or Thrown

Brother Accused In Incident With Twin Sisters

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas -- Authorities in Texas said they can't charge a boy who either dropped or threw his infant twin sisters down some stairs, killing one of them. The autistic boy is only 8 years old.

His 9-month-old sister died of head and brain injuries Monday night. Her twin was treated at a hospital and is expected to be OK.

Police said the boy took his sisters from a bedroom about 4:40 a.m. Monday. The parents discovered the injuries when they heard one baby crying. They found one child at the bottom of the stairs and the other in the kitchen, police said.


http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/13501345/detail.html

 

[Amraann]

This link that SewingDeb posted on another thread....
http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/13501345/detail.html

Says the boy is autistic.
Clearly he did not know he would harm them. I am outraged that the media feels the need to point out that "he cannot be charged"
Like that should EVER even be a consideration for an 8 YO???
Even a 10 yo? What a freakin atrocity!!
I am not sure of what behavoir issues this particular autistic child displayed but until I read otherwise I would entertain the notion that there was no malice involved.


I do not understand why they would need alarms or baby monitors for the 11 and 14 yo's to come back home.

I agree that the parents should have had alarms on the boys bedroom door to begin with if they knew he wandered but the previous article said they had just that day moved in. I understand why it may take a few days to install alarms.

 

[Nova]

You are so right. Because of the age of everyone involved, I can't help but think there will not be much information about this.

My son is almost 7 and I feel like he does know right from wrong about many things. He knows not to push anyone down the stairs and he also knows to be extra gentle with babies.

Obviously this child was having a lot of feelings about these two new children in the house. I wonder if he had other behavioral issues before their arrival. I suspect he did.

I think it's not just a matter of knowing right from wrong, but of appreciating consequences, particularly permanent ones.

I know this is a goofy example, but on my way home from kindergarten graduation (I was 6), I was playing with a balloon (despite my mother's warnings). The balloon flew out of my hands, out the window and popped on the street behind the car.

Although I remember saying quite seriously to my mother, "Maybe Dad will get the balloon on his way home and fix it," I can't for the life of me, at this point, figure out how I thought that was possible. If I do say so myself, I was considered rather intellectually precocious as a child; nonetheless, I somehow thought it was possible to retrieve tiny pieces of plastic and restore a popped balloon.

At the same age, I would have known it was wrong to throw my little brother downstairs. But would I have realized the consequences of doing so would be permanent? I don't know.

(ETA: I just read the report that the boy was autistic. Obviously, that makes it even less likely that he understood what he was doing.)

 

[southcitymom]

I think it's not just a matter of knowing right from wrong, but of appreciating consequences, particularly permanent ones.

I know this is a goofy example, but on my way home from kindergarten graduation (I was 6), I was playing with a balloon (despite my mother's warnings). The balloon flew out of my hands, out the window and popped on the street behind the car.

Although I remember saying quite seriously to my mother, "Maybe Dad will get the balloon on his way home and fix it," I can't for the life of me, at this point, figure out how I thought that was possible. If I do say so myself, I was considered rather intellectually precocious as a child; nonetheless, I somehow thought it was possible to retrieve tiny pieces of plastic and restore a popped balloon.

At the same age, I would have known it was wrong to throw my little brother downstairs. But would I have realized the consequences of doing so would be permanent? I don't know.

(ETA: I just read the report that the boy was autistic. Obviously, that makes it even less likely that he understood what he was doing.)

Good example! You are absolutely correct - a child this age, autistic or not, has no real understanding of "permanent".

I do hope all of the family members can heal in the face of this tragedy.

 

[Nova]

Good example! You are absolutely correct - a child this age, autistic or not, has no real understanding of "permanent".

I do hope all of the family members can heal in the face of this tragedy.

Indeed. It's just a terrible, terrible thing. And to think how hopeful they must have been about the move and their new lives, just a day before!

 

[sherri79]

I think it's not just a matter of knowing right from wrong, but of appreciating consequences, particularly permanent ones.

I know this is a goofy example, but on my way home from kindergarten graduation (I was 6), I was playing with a balloon (despite my mother's warnings). The balloon flew out of my hands, out the window and popped on the street behind the car.

Although I remember saying quite seriously to my mother, "Maybe Dad will get the balloon on his way home and fix it," I can't for the life of me, at this point, figure out how I thought that was possible. If I do say so myself, I was considered rather intellectually precocious as a child; nonetheless, I somehow thought it was possible to retrieve tiny pieces of plastic and restore a popped balloon.

At the same age, I would have known it was wrong to throw my little brother downstairs. But would I have realized the consequences of doing so would be permanent? I don't know.

(ETA: I just read the report that the boy was autistic. Obviously, that makes it even less likely that he understood what he was doing.)

ok nova u are really tickin me off. first you agree with my post on another thread then you have the nerve to post something i agree with... stop it!! ok now to be serious. some 8year olds may have understood but most wont. my son is 8 and this is the year in school where the began to teach this thought proccess. read a story and ask what would happen next. can this really happen. i help the teacher out a few times a week and i have seen the answers. you would be shocked at the reason the kids give for why peter pan can be a true story. reasons for why if they are forced to walk the plank the gators cant eat the kids cuz pan will jump in the water walking on the gators head and kill the huge gators with his tiny little knife.... they are just getting to the point of understanding this @ 8. in this case the child is autistic. if a healthy child does not understand then how can you ever expect this child to get it. the 1 big diffrence is a healthy child will understand what he did some day. i hope this poor boy never really gets what he did.

 

[Nova]

ok nova u are really tickin me off. first you agree with my post on another thread then you have the nerve to post something i agree with... stop it!!

Oh, dear! At this rate we're going to end up being friends!

(ETA: I often think of the "kindergarten balloon" incident because although I remember it quite clearly, the thought process is so bizarrely alien. It's like I'm remembering when I was a creature on another planet.)

 

[southcitymom]

Oh, dear! At this rate we're going to end up being friends!

(ETA: I often think of the "kindergarten balloon" incident because although I remember it quite clearly, the thought process is so bizarrely alien. It's like I'm remembering when I was a creature on another planet.)

Correct me if I am mistaken, but I'm fairly certain that's what young children are.

Of course, that might just be what I'm telling myself to make it through these years with just some of my sanity....

 

[mostlylurking]

...I was a creature on another planet

Correct me if I am mistaken, but I'm fairly certain that's what young children are.

Of course, that might just be what I'm telling myself to make it through these years with just some of my sanity....

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

[Nova]

Correct me if I am mistaken, but I'm fairly certain that's what young children are.

True. And how kind of you to put it that way! I expected posters to immediately insist I AM from another planet and they have always thought of me as such.

 

[sherri79]

True. And how kind of you to put it that way! I expected posters to immediately insist I AM from another planet and they have always thought of me as such.

you posted to fast. i was gonna say "was" ????