An off-duty cop driving 94 mph hits a car, kills a baby, and is charged with negligent homicide.

[pnwmom]

Who else gets charged with negligent homicide? The mother of the baby -- because they say she didn't secure the carseat.

This happened in Baton Rouge, LA and the mother -- you guessed it -- is black.

I hope some attorney has already offered to represent her for free.

P.S. I learned about this case on Twitter, from Amanda Knox. After her four year false imprisonment in Italy, followed by a high court ruling that she was "innocent," because there was no factual evidence against her, she continues to be active in the Innocence Project.

http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/crime_police/article_7c7f4602-1cb0-11e8-a723-0bc2db424e30.html

A Baton Rouge lawmaker and legal experts weighed in Wednesday expressing "serious concern" about the recent arrest of a mother accused of failing to secure her baby daughter's car seat before an off-duty police officer crashed into their vehicle at 94 mph and fatally injured the child.


SNIP

Brittany Stephens, 20, was arrested Tuesday on negligent homicide after police found that in an Oct. 12 wreck her daughter's car seat was not secured and the straps were not adjusted correctly for the child's height, according to her arrest report. Police said the "lack of securing the seat to the vehicle and the loose straps are a contributing factor in the death" of the child and "show gross negligence" on the mother's part.

SNIP

LSU criminal law professor Ken Levy also said that without knowing all the details of the case, the arrest "seems to me unnecessary if not mean spirited to go after the mother for the death of her child" despite the fact that Stephens played no role in the crash itself. He described the arrest as "overreaching."

"It's very sad that a child died, but that doesn't mean that you go and punish as many people as possible for child's death," he said. "The principal culprit here is the officer. … The mother is being blamed for this tragedy and that just doesn't seem fair."

Levy said the law would require prosecutors to prove "gross negligence" on Stephens' part and also prove that her daughter's death was the result of the car seat being improperly restrained.

Mike Mitchell, the chief public defender for East Baton Rouge Parish, said he also found the arrest "certainly unusual" and problematic. Mitchell said his office has not been appointed to represent Stephens at this point, though that could change as the case moves forward.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I hope justice will be done, however it happens. n/t

[marybourg]

2. Yes, over-reaching. I'm sure the fact that the real

perpetrator is a cop contributed to the charge, in addition to the Mom's race..

[mythology]

4. How exactly does charging the cop means he is getting away with murder?

If both parties, the cop by dangerously speeding, and the mom by failure to properly secure the car seat, were necessary to the child's death, then both should be charged.

[pnwmom]

7. How can you equate the two -- which they did when they charged them both with negligent homicide?

They don't have the evidence that the child wouldn't have died if only the carseat had been perfectly installed (which many people fail to do.)

When the car was hit at 94 miles per hour, the child might have died no matter what.

From the link at the OP:

East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III said proving criminal negligence in Louisiana is also "extremely difficult." It means proving "beyond a reasonable doubt that an individual's conduct is more than a mere deviation from the standard of ordinary care; it must be a gross deviation below the standard of care expected to be maintained by a reasonably careful person under like circumstances," he said. Then the state must also prove that deviation caused the death in question.

Moore said criminal negligence equates to "almost an intentional type of act."

[pnwmom]

5. But what about the arresting officers? Do you know their race? I don't see how they protected

the officer by charging him and the mother the same charge of negligent homicide. They just dragged the grieving black mother into something that was the black cop's fault.

[ProudLib72]

6. Deleted

A post from yesterday did not mention they had charged the cop. That is what I was referring to.

[NCTraveler]

8. I can understand the charge, just not the person charged.

I thought the owner/operator assumed responsibility for the legal safety requirements of any occupants. I didn’t know guardianship took precedence.

[pnwmom]

9. Right. You noticed she wasn't the driver. n/t