Family famed for protest photo die when SUV goes off cliff

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Family famed for protest photo die when SUV goes off cliff

By PAUL ELIAS AND TOM JAMES, ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN FRANCISCO — Mar 28, 2018, 11:57 PM ET

A family that gained attention for an emotional photograph of an African-American boy hugging a white police officer at a 2014 protest was killed when their SUV plunged off a scenic California highway, authorities said Wednesday as they asked for help figuring out what happened.

"We have every indication to believe that all six children were in there," Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said, appealing for tips to retrace where the siblings and two parents had been before the vehicle was found Monday in rocky ocean. "We know that an entire family vanished and perished during this tragedy."

Some friends described married couple Jennifer and Sarah Hart as loving parents who took their adopted kids to Bernie Sanders rallies, while some neighbors said they called child welfare officials in their rural Washington state community over concerns about possible abuse or had noticed red flags.

The California Highway Patrol has not determined why the vehicle went off an ocean overlook on a rugged part of coastline. A specialized team of accident investigators was trying to figure that out, Allman said.

-snip-

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/child-welfare-officials-visited-family-drove-off-cliff-54079216

[HipChick]

1. Parents were previously taken to court for on child abuse charges...Children were failed all the way

around..

Bruce and Dana DeKalb, who lived next door to the family, said they called child welfare officials last week after becoming concerned that one of the children, Devonte Hart, had been coming to their house too often in the past week asking for food.

Devonte made headlines in 2014 when a photo of him tearfully hugging a police officer in Portland during a Black Lives Matter rally went viral.The boy had told neighbors that his parents would keep food from him and his siblings as punishment. The DeKalbs said he asked them to leave food by the fence so his parents wouldn't find out.



The DeKalbs also recounted a night three months after the family moved in when one of the girls rang their doorbell at 1.30am.
'(She) was at our door in a blanket saying we needed to protect her. She said that they were abusing her,' Bruce said.
Other previous neighbors also reported suspicions the children had been abused.Sarah Hart had previously been convicted in Minnesota of domestic assault back in 2011.

Online court records said Sarah's plea in Douglas County also led to the dismissal of a charge of malicious punishment of a child. No other details were immediately available.Bill Groener, who lived near the family at their previous home, said the children were often kept inside.

'Something just didn't seem right. They were very isolated in the home,' he said, adding he felt 'guilty he never called (child) services'.

[Ms. Toad]

5. Just remember, this was a lesbian couple raising a multiracial family.

that has spent 3 years, at least to some extent, being a target of every homophobe around, as alluded to in the article.

One of the things all same gender families live with is false allegations made to child protective services by people who believe our very existence is harmful to our children.

I'm not saying it is impossible for them to have been bad parents - but a lot of LGBT parents have lost their kids (or been threatened wtih the loss of their kids) based on bogus allegations.

[HipChick]

6. In this case, several had already gone through the court system

and know we'll never know what happened..

[MicaelS]

7. Not going to give them a pass...

Because they were Lesbian.

Kid constantly asking for food? Another out at 1:30 am claiming abuse? A shut-in family? Home-schooled? And now the entire family is dead?

That is just too much too ignore.

[Ms. Toad]

10. I'm not suggesting giving them a pass

If they were behaving inappropriately.

I am suggesting that before you string them up, that you consider the possibility that the claims you are hearing are part of a (made-up) witch hunt.. Believe me, it is part and parcel of being a lesbian mom, even without living in the spotlight these women have lived under.

You have independent confirmation for what, one of the things that concern you? That they are dead.

The approval process to become a parent is not trivial; they went through it as a lesbian couple 6 times. Something doesn't add up - an uneasy feeling I had on my first skim of the article - which made sense when. I realized it was a lesbian couple.

[oasis]

2. This is one of the saddest stories I've read in weeks.

Hard hitting.

[Liberty Belle]

3. Highway 1 is a beautiful but treacherous roadway -- narrow, steep cliffs, no guardrails in places

or so small as to be inadequate, with lots of sharp twists and turns, frequent erosion, landslides, etc.

I stopped driving it some years ago -- it's just too scary and dangerous for me.

While it sounds like there was abuse at home, I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that the parents' intentionally ran off the cliff. Accidents are not uncommon there and any misjudgment in speed, swerving, distraction by kids in the car, etc. will have deadly consequences. There's simply no margin for error.

This is a heartbreaking end to those young lives.

[Danascot]

9. The fog can lterally be a killer

I've driven that road when one could see nothing.

[smirkymonkey]

14. Actually, I read in another article on this story that there were no skid marks or break marks where

they went off the road, which means they didn't try to stop. Who knows, maybe visibility was really poor and they couldn't see the edge of the road but I think we will have to wait for the results of an investigation.

[DangerousRhythm]

4. This is beyond depressing.

Jeez, those poor kids.

[ananda]

8. I know. So so sad.

nt

[Catherine Vincent]

11. Wow...this is just tragic

Very sad.

[grossproffit]

12. I hope this wasn't a murder suicide. Those poor children.

[grossproffit]

13. "There were no skid marks. There were no brake marks"

“I was at the scene two days ago, and I can tell you it was a very confusing scene, because there were no skid marks,” Allman* said. “There were no brake marks. There was no indication of why this vehicle traversed approximately over 75 feet of a dirt pullout and went into the Pacific Ocean.”

*Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/8163127-181/chp-names-2-adults-in?sba=AAS