NO charges for Ore. dad whose baby died in car

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) -- An Oregon father whose 6-month-old daughter died after he left her inside his car at his workplace for six hours will not face criminal charges.

The Oregonian reports ( http://is.gd/7W7sWW ) that a Washington County prosecutor in the Portland suburb of Hillsboro announced that decision Friday, calling the death a tragic accident.

According to court documents, 38-year-old Intel engineer Joshua Freier told police he had forgotten his daughter Jillian was still in the car when he drove to work last Oct. 16.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BABY_IN_CAR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-14-00-21-56

[Divernan]

1. More detailed explanation from coroner.

Nelson noted that the girl's parents had told police when they last fed their daughter. Based on their statements and examining her digestive system, Nelson said he could better estimate the infant's time of death and put it in the first hour she spent inside the car. He then compared that finding to how quickly the temperature in the car rose.
*******************************
Still, Nelson said it's possible that Jillian died from positional asphyxia -- which means her ability to breathe could have been cut off because of her position, he said.

While sleeping upright, breathing can become difficult for some infants, he said. Their necks may buckle if they aren't supported. They may begin breathing from their diaphragm, he said, and get worn out. Their oxygen levels can go down while their carbon dioxide levels increase, causing their breathing to become shallow, he said. Adults would naturally awaken during similar circumstances because their brains are more developed, he said, but some infants seem to fall into a deeper sleep.

Nelson said there's no way to see if that's what occurred with Jillian. "That doesn't leave any signs," he said. "I can't say, 'Yes, that's what happened.'"

http://www.4-traders.com/INTEL-CORPORATION-4829/news/Intel--baby-death-Why-autopsy-couldnt-determine-how-6-month-old-died-after-being-left-in-hot-car-19989314/

[kelliekat44]

2. Is it me or are all the mama's that do this for whatever reason are always found guilty and

punished?

[patricia92243]

6. I was wondering the same thing. There wasa mother who was a hospital administrator

and forgot her baby in the car and tragically it died/ It sounds like exactly the same thing. I have always wondered if she was prosecuted. I can't even remember what state it was in to Google it.

[Android3.14]

9. It's you

There are numerous cases (sadly) of both men and women receiving punishments when there is evidence showing they knew what was happening when leaving a child in a hot car.

People do not realize how faulty is our perception of time, place and continuity. I recall an instance or two when one of my kids had fallen asleep in the car seat, and I didn't realize it until I had made it a significant distance across the parking lot. Same thing with Mrs. 'Droid.

It's a little like heading to the grocery store, becoming lost in thought, and then realizing you are about to pull into your employer's parking lot.

It is amazing that so many kids survive to adulthood.

[Major Nikon]

20. ...

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/distracted-mom-found-innocent/

http://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/local/2014/08/02/fundraising-efforts-begin-hurricane-family-whose-baby-died/13535269/
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=31318472

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/11/children-hot-car-deaths_n_3582564.html

http://patch.com/virginia/arlington-va/infant-death-case-mother-reaches-plea-agreement-with-state

http://www.local10.com/news/catalina-bruno-accepts-plea-deal-after-leaving-son-to-die-in-hot-car/26213940

http://wtvr.com/2014/07/02/mother-whose-children-died-in-car-while-she-worked-not-given-extra-jail-time/

[Nye Bevan]

24. Yes, it's you. (nt)

[lostnfound]

3. Poor man and poor baby

Until you have personally undergone the massive shift that occurs after becoming a parent, it's hard to understand how your brain can just slip itself into one of the old gears automatically. Old habits take over and your brain is on autopilot.

This man will have a giant hole in his heart worse than any criminal charge.

[sendero]

4. I agree...

.... I don't think anyone that does this accidentally, and most of there cases are clearly accidental, should be prosecuted.

I don't understand folks that have never gotten their brain so wrapped up in work that they forget things, especially when they are breaking a long established routine.

[drynberg]

7. The Daddy dropped the ball, and from what I've seen needs to be responsible, not released with

No Consequence. Besides not being fair or right, the other workaholics or those that don't care about being a parent are welcomed to try the same...frankly, this is nuts.

[sendero]

8. So you think this guy..

... did this on purpose?

[Android3.14]

10. Because, you know, being the guy who accidentally killed his own child isn't any punishment

Looks like another childless individual is giving parents the benefit of their wisdom.

[Cryptoad]

21. There such a thing in the Law as ,,,,

Due Diligence , He is guilty of not doing his!

[Android3.14]

22. You may not understand due diligence

TheLawDictionary.com has a good definition for lay people.

Any evidence of abuse? Nada
Kid in a car seat? Natch
Reasonable medical care? Looks like it.

What other reasonable action, that every other person with a child in the United States is already doing, could he have done in order to make sure the change in the routine would not have resulted in him forgetting about the child?

Wait-wait. I know. He should have remembered, and that is why he should go to jail. There's no better way to teach a person to remember to bring their kid out of a hot car than having them accidentally kill a child by accident and then put them in prison. Lesson learned.

It appears you just want to enjoy more suffering.

[Cryptoad]

23. It is a parents duty for due dligence to provide

for the safety of their children,,, and leaving a kid unattended in cars is not performance of that duty..... but you can call it what you will.

btw just because you dont agree doesn't mean you have to make a personal attack on me. geeez. its rude and uncalled for and doesn't reflex well on your character!

[lancer78]

37. That father

has endured enough punishment.

[Cryptoad]

40. I will stand with the child's rights.

[enlightenment]

26. You know what?

I raised a child - as a single parent, no less - and I agree with that poster.

I managed to raise my child without "forgetting" where I put them. This isn't about breaking old habits, or being over-worked, or any other clap-trap excuse. It's about an inability to parent.

Millions - literally - of adults manage to have children and raise them to adulthood without damaging them - or forgetting where they left them (car/bathtub/shopping mall). Are they super-extraordinary?

I don't think so. I think they are the norm - and people who can't manage to raise their children safely are the exception. It doesn't matter WHY a parent "forgets" their kid; it matters that they FORGOT them.

I'll be doubly damned if I'll pat this guy on the head and say there, there. He is as responsible for the death of his child as any other parent who "forgets" their duty to care. If he left his dog in the car, he could be charged with animal cruelty - but we're supposed to feel sorry for this idiot because it was his kid?

[smirkymonkey]

33. +1000

I find it pathetic that anyone is defending him. How the f**k do you forget your own child for 6 hours? The guy has a serious problem and certainly doesn't deserve any pity.

[CentralMass]

12. The demands of earning a living in the competive world that we live in can at times

consume us. Including circumstance like being relocated to another state with new surroundings and change of routines.
Good people can make tragic mistakes. My heart goes out to the man and his family. I don't imagine they will ever get over this.

[Thor_MN]

16. No Consequence? You really think the death of one's child is not a consequence?

If a death penalty were imposed on the child of someone convicted of a crime, the world would be denouncing the barbaric practice.

[tblue37]

17. He did not escape consequences. I can't think of any consequence worse than

losing your child--unless it is knowing that the child's death was your own fault.

[Nye Bevan]

25. So..... what would you sentence him to? Prison?

Some very vindictive folks posting in this thread.

[Shrike47]

5. From the information available, it was sad, it was horrible, it was not a crime.

I don't want to second guess the D.A. I'm sure they considered the evidence and decided charges were not warranted. The parents will be haunted by the baby's death. It's an incredibly sad situation.

[Jefferson23]

11. These stories are so sad. Have people become so preoccupied with what they're going to

do next that they forget they're not alone in the car?

The last time this happened in my state, it was very hot outside and the father
drove the baby to the hospital when he realized what happened. Reportedly,
when they told him the baby was dead, he collapsed in the ER and curled
into a fetal position. It was horrifying to read, and I don't know how families
survive such a thing.

Some type of device for the car seat that sounds off somehow, maybe
connected by a chip to the ignition key..I have no idea, but something
to remind people?

[CentralMass]

14. There are a few in the works.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Ftech%2F2015%2F01%2F16%2Fhot-car-deaths-intel-smart-clip%2F21849977%2F&ei=6zwEVYrEDs3ZoAT7hYDgBg&usg=AFQjCNGadbIQhdVLy5oPTSatfGr70Po_Qg&bvm=bv.88198703,d.cGU

[Jefferson23]

15. Great, the sooner the better. Thanks for the link..good news. n/t

[Stargazer09]

18. From what I've read

A lot of these tragic accidents happen when there's a change in routine. Dad taking the child to day care when he doesn't normally do so. Mom getting called in to work on what's normally a day off. That sort of thing.

With rear-racing car seats, as well as the tendency of most babies to be lulled to sleep by the motions of a car, it's easy to forget that there is a baby behind you. Add to that the way our brains go into autopilot when following a familiar routine, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Until technology exists to help prevent leaving a child behind in a car, some people will throw a stuffed animal in the front seat or hang something from the rear view mirror. As long as the reminder object is not normally there, it's often enough to pull a person out of autopilot long enough to check for passengers.

Reading stories like these always make me cry. Not just for the baby dying a painful death, but for the parents who have to live with that horrific guilt for the rest of their lives.

[Jefferson23]

19. Yes, that does seem to be the consensus among psychologists..so troubling. I agree more

awareness via pro-active public announcements..place something in your car to remind
you. I would think even something as simple as a card hanging from the rear view mirror,
Check the back seat....something.

[CBHagman]

13. Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post has written a great deal about these cases.

They are tragically common and can occur with any parent or in any family. In one case more than a decade back, not only the father but all the children in a large family forgot a little girl who'd been left behind in the car just outside their house.

The Washington Post's Gene Weingarten, known primarily as a humorist, has written multiple pieces on these cases. If you have time to read only one of the following, choose the second link.

[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html[/url]

[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/another-child-dies-in-a-hot-car-and-gene-weingarten-asks-why-was-this-a-crime/2012/03/14/gIQAXm01ES_story.html[/url]

[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/28/AR2007072800644.html[/url]

[Inbetweendays]

27. He's already suffered the worst fate.

It was a mistake he will have to live with his whole life.

[McKim]

28. Tragic but Is a Middle Class Engineer for Intel Let Off While Moms and Poor People Would Do the Time

This is a tragedy. But I yearn for parity and fairness in sentencing and a legal process. It smacks of injustice when we see a male engineer for a major high tech company completely absolved. What is wrong with him that he forgot the baby? This is weird. Does he have ADD? What if her were a Black woman in Florida?

[BobbyBoring]

29. ^^^^^THIS^^^^^

Best response yet. There are people in jail for the same thing. I understand how devastating it is for the parent but WTF? How do you forget a baby in a car?

[Nye Bevan]

38. Do you have a link to a story where someone was jailed for accidentally leaving their kid in a car?

[irisblue]

30. A sister died from SIDS in 1964. The screams of mom&dad still show up in nightmares

I was maybe 3 1/2 , 4....winter is part of the memory, blue& red lights on walls. I was the oldest, I slept with my first sister, first brother had a crib next to our bed second sister had one next to his against the wall. I know I pulled him over in my & my sisters bed after the screams kept going on.....something was really wrong really really wrong. I do recall someone in uniform, cop? firefighter? there were no EMTs in the early 60s, I can't recall, they opened the door and looked at the three of us, someone, I don't recall who changed baby brothers night time diaper and laid him back into bed with me & my sister.
Big fuck ups happen, maybe you are have been blessed enough to never have a really big fuck up happen to your kids. be greatful and say thank you often to your Deity. you got lucky, really lucky , all my parents did was put one of their four babies to bed that night. Mom is 81, she can tell you the color of her nightgown that awful horrid morning. It was yellow, I hate that color.

[Fumesucker]

31. ...

[proverbialwisdom]

32. More.

Added to an older thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025120837#post96

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2015/03/da_death_of_baby_left_in_car_a.html

DA: Death of baby left in car at Intel was 'tragic and unintentional accident'

By Rebecca Woolington | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on March 13, 2015 at 8:25 PM, updated March 13, 2015 at 8:45 PM

IMO, it would be prudent to follow the new guidelines here (top 2 paragraphs).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6324034
Wednesday, January 25, 2015
<>
Page 46
President Signs Sudden Unexpected Death Data Enhancement and Awareness Act

[AngryDem001]

34. This is inexcusable behavior.

This was not an accident. It was NEGLIGENCE. Pure and simple.

[tabasco]

35. Ummmm, by definition, if it was negligence, then it was an accident.

The only crime that I am aware of that provides criminal punishment for negligence is statutory rape.

Maybe there should be a strict liability standard in these cases. Forget your kid in the car and he dies = automatic one year sentence. Of course, more severe punishment for intentional acts, as it is now.

[Nye Bevan]

39. A year in prison for a horrible, tragic accident? Really?

Talk about piling on. What would these prison sentences achieve, exactly?

[tabasco]

42. What does it achieve to put a 21-year old guy in jail

for having sex with a 17.5-year old, who said she was 18?

Deterrence.

[Nye Bevan]

43. So there are people who only the threat of prison would stop them forgetting their child

in a hot car?

What a strange theory.

[CBHagman]

36. Article: "You'd Never Forget Your Child in the Car, Right?"

[url]http://www.parents.com/baby/safety/car/danger-of-hot-car-for-children/[/url]

Whenever a case like this hits the media -- and it always does -- the public response is the same: How could a parent leave her child in a hot car? In most instances the child had fallen asleep, so there was no sound to remind the parent to take him out. And if a baby was in a rear-facing car seat in the backseat, there was also no visual cue: The baby's head might not have been visible over the top of the seat.

This is a relatively new problem. Prior to the early 1990s, children were routinely placed in the front seat, where it was obvious that they were in the car. In fact, from 1990 to 1992 there were only 11 known deaths of children from heatstroke after being left in a car. After that, car seats were moved to the back. This is when airbags became common and kids riding in the front seat were being killed by them -- 63 in 1995 alone. Not a single child has died due to an airbag since 2003, but at least 110 kids died of heatstroke from 2011 to 2013 -- a tenfold increase over the prior decade. So although kids are safer in cars in one way, they are more at risk in another.

But that isn't the only factor in heatstroke deaths, and safety experts stress that the backseat remains the safest place for children. Another major contributor, one that's more difficult to comprehend, relates to the brain. "These are not negligent parents who have forgotten their kids," says David Diamond, Ph.D., a neuroscientist in the psychology department at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, who has reviewed the details of many hot-car deaths and has spent time with dozens of parents who unintentionally left their child in the car.

(SNIP)


For parents whose children die, there is crushing grief and guilt. Sometimes, there are also serious legal repercussions. In 49 percent of all hot-car deaths, charges were filed against the adults who left the child in the car; 81 percent of those cases resulted in a conviction.

[proverbialwisdom]

41. In this case...

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2015/03/da_death_of_baby_left_in_car_a.html

<>

From the outside, all signs seemed to point to heat causing the infant's death.

But Dr. Clifford Nelson of the state Medical Examiner's Office ruled the case a "sudden unexplained infant death." He said he couldn't definitively say how Jillian died.

Nelson told The Oregonian that he considered information gathered from the scene, statements from the parents, the child's medical history and his own physical examination of the baby. He saw no signs of an undiagnosed disease in the girl or reaction to shots she received at her check-up. There was nothing odd in toxicology tests.

Nelson noted that the girl's parents had told police when they last fed their daughter. Based on their statements and examining her digestive system, Nelson said he estimated the infant died during the first hour she spent inside the car. He then compared that finding to how quickly the temperature in the car rose.

He concluded that she likely died before the car's temperature became deadly.

<>

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2015/03/intel_baby_death.html

...During the past 10 years, between 20 and 30 infants have died suddenly each year with no signs of trauma or illness, according to data from the Oregon Health Authority.

"They are probably the most intellectually challenging cases that we get," Nelson said.

<>

[KinMd]

44. Here's a link to an excellent feature about these tragedies

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html

[kiva]

45. For people who oppose charging parents who forget their children in cars...

What if a babysitter forgot the baby? Or a daycare center? Or a grandparent, aunt, uncle?

If we think that parents have been punished enough when their child dies, is that also punishment enough for a babysitter or more distant relative?

[secondwind]

46. LEAVE YOUR PURSES/BRIEFCASES IN THE BACK SEAT NEXT TO THE BABY!!!! n/t

[Reter]

47. I can't possibly imagine forgetting that your infant is in the back seat

That's less likely than Home Alone. At least Keven came from a huge family where it was slightly possible.