Is it ok if my car can keep the AC running (engine off) while my kid is in the car? I'd probably get arrested for the possibility that the car could get too cold...
The day I left my son in the car
181–190 of 223 posts
Re: The day I left my son in the car
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is this case even remotely discussable as "middle ground"? There was no malice except on the part of the police and the bystander. Your responses to this thread show a deep lack of understanding of practical parenting or human resiliency.
I fail to see what police malice you're finding. The author of the police doesn't criticize them at all.
That's part of the problem, that they think they deserve to get treated this way by making a sound and considered choice.
Re: The day I left my son in the car
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
Considering the possibility isn't the same thing as leaping to the conclusion. It's not like the woman was pursued, arrested, and thrown in jail before she ever got near the airport. Rather, the police did the sensible thing and followed the matter up by checking with the owner of the vehicle that was seen in the parking lot. Are you saying that if there's only a 2% chance of something odd being a criminal incident,…
Absolutely, yes.
I'm sure you'll be equally philosophical if you're ever in the position of needing to report a crime and they tell you not to worry about it.
Re: The day I left my son in the car
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
I fail to see what police malice you're finding. The author of the police doesn't criticize them at all.
That's part of the problem, that they think they deserve to get treated this way by making a sound and considered choice.
Get treated what way? You haven't articulated how it is that you think she was mistreated by the police.
Re: The day I left my son in the car
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, your argument is weak because you changed the facts to fit your narrative. Why? Why would a random parent Yet again, the assumption of parental status based on hindsight. The police who answered the 911 call at the shopping center had no way of knowing that the author was the parent of the child in the car, and given that that person did not match the description of the registered vehicle owner, such an assumptio…
I don't think that darklajid can be the one downvoting -- at least not your post replying to him. I suspect you're being downvoted (and not by me) for suggesting that a statewide missing child alert is warranted in response to a kid being spotted alone in a parking lot for a few minutes, which is the kind of thing that people are mad about in this thread. > In California, there are about 1900 cases of family child ab…
I'm not suggesting that, and you're being disingenuous for ignoring the fact of the person driving the car not matching the id of the vehicle owner, which I have repeatedly pointed out as the suspicious circumstance.
Hmm, what "math" did you just do to come up with 1 in 5000?
Population of CA is ~38 million, of which ~24% are minors, or approximately 10 million children. 10m/~2000 abductions a year in the state = 5000.
http://www.childabductions.org/ Annual abduction rates http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06000.html CA census data
Are you happy now?
Re: The day I left my son in the car
#186"What Would You Do?" on ABC had a scenario about this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSveKV8Tk3s
Re: The day I left my son in the car
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
I once called animal control when I saw a dog in a car, in a hot parking lot. This dog was barking and running around the car. I waited in my car's A/C for 5 minutes before calling, just to be sure I wasn't overreacting. When I got through to animal control, I was told that the dog was not in distress. A dog in distress would retreat to a cooler spot of the car (near the passenger side floor) and not jump around bark…
Apparently it's hard to tell the difference if you're untrained. Seems like calling for help if you are concerned about the safety of a dog or kid is reasonable, even if it means you could be wrong.
It's also up to the police whether to take it any further.
Once they arrive, and hopefully the owner arrives, explain yourself (you were acting in good faith, etc.) and try and make sure the police don't go overboard.
Re: The day I left my son in the car
#188This is just so patently absurd. The legal issue seems to revolve around "rendering the child in need of services". A child alone in a car for 5 minutes on a mild day is not in need of services. The case should be thrown out right there.
Well police investigations aren't free to the taxpayer.
She didn't mention it, but nothing is really 'free' about this. With court costs, lawyers, time spent doing community service, and other miscellaneous stuff I wonder how much it cost her total. Not to mention a year or so of stress worrying about it and the obvious lingering effects of the decision.
A large portion of people most likely would not have been able to round up the resources she did nor have the support and get screwed by this type of stuff.
It's good that she's bringing the subject to light but, being a seemingly local law, and one that you might not know about until it's being thrown at you, it seems more likely it will continue to harm parents just getting by.
Re: The day I left my son in the car
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely, yes.
I'm sure you'll be equally philosophical if you're ever in the position of needing to report a crime and they tell you not to worry about it.
I think you have it backwards. I would like to be able to call the police to report an ACTUAL crime...but unfortunately, they would be too busy investigating reports by paranoid folks who think they've seen a possible crime.
Re: The day I left my son in the car
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've thought long and hard about it... Still makes no difference. For it to make a difference you would have to leap to the conclusion that a woman stole the car, stole a kid (?), and then left the stolen car and the kid in the parking lot, which is now very conspicuous in the US (apparently). That could only make sense if you assumed average moms are child snatching car thieves. I'm told only 2 in 10 mom's snatch ki…
> I'm told only 2 in 10 mom's snatch kids Wow... because I know like at least 30 moms and none of them have snatched any kids. To cover the odds, there must be people out there that know a lot of baby snatchers. Those people should be calling the police. :)
You know what they say, 97% of statistics are made up ;)
I of course picked an absurdly high number because even with two absurdly high numbers it still only nets 2%.