No Charges Against Dad in Infant Car Death

[The Straight Story]

No Charges Against Dad in Infant Car Death
Written by Jason Kobely, Internet News Producer

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BENICIA, Calif. (AP) -- Prosecutors have decided not to file charges against a Benicia man whose infant son died after he accidentally left the child in the car for more than six hours.

Danny Takemoto, 46, was released from jail Thursday afternoon, after being arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment Wednesday.

Takemoto told police that he was supposed to drop off his eleven-month-old son Ian at a day care center Wednesday morning but forgot. Instead he accidentally left the boy strapped into his car seat while he went to work.

When his wife called hours later to ask why Ian was not at the day care, Takemoto ran out to the minivan to find the child's lifeless body.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=389

[nini]

1. His guilty ridden conscience will be the worst punishment

He'll live with this the rest of his life. This is a tragedy. :-(

[shanti]

9. yes

and i wouldn't be surprised if his marriage ended too.

[malaise]

14. It was his child too

Can you imagine his pain. Yes he made a horrible mistake.

[shanti]

28. my point

is that when terrible events happen to a couple like this, many times the marriage can't handle the strain.

the pain must be awful. losing a child is supposedly the worst pain imaginable. poor guy...

[Swede]

11. This will haunt him the rest of his days.

What more can he be punished with?

[AndyA]

2. This is so tragic - and seems to be happening more often.

We've had two of these instances happen in my metro area in the last couple of years.

I just wonder what stress or what other things could be going on in these people's lives that they can forget they have a child in the back seat of their car for hours at a time?

It's just horrible, and this man will be haunted by the outcome of his actions for the rest of his life. I wish him peace.

[Kota]

6. You would think that they could come up with an alarm

or something because it is happening more.

[pitohui]

16. it is happening more because car seats now required to be in the back

think about the olden days, if it was just you and your mom, or you and your dad, unless you're really still quite young, you were never in a back seat out of the parent's sight while he or she was driving

however, the laws regarding the special child seats, and new requirements that they be placed in the back seat, where the parent cannot see them while them driving -- this is just going to happen, because especially people who are absent minded professor types or easily distracted adult attention deficit disorder types DO forget things innocently

the problem is that in an accident, the air bags can decapitate or kill babies and small children -- hence the requirement to place them in the back seat

[NashVegas]

18. Lack of Sleep and/or Stress Are Often a Factor

..

[MissB]

3. Good.

He'll suffer plenty already.

[debbierlus]

4. It sounded like a frazzled parent who made a atrocious mistake

All my love & positive energy to that family. Thanks for posting, btw.

[Mythsaje]

5. I just can't understand

how anyone can FORGET their child in the back seat. I'd have been incapable of it.

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. I don't understand it either. I was an overworked mom. I dropped my baby off at day care every

morning, it was the first thing I did. I never forgot him. :shrug:

[Mythsaje]

10. Forgetting a child is like forgetting to breathe.

To me it's impossible.

:shrug:

[SammyWinstonJack]

32. I agree.

[pitohui]

22. yes you had a routine -- now change up the routine

it is clear from the story that this is not the case of mom takes the baby to the child care every day, sometimes dad takes the child in

when you don't have a routine, and when you don't do things the same every day, this is when you forget things, esp. if you are absent minded or attention deficit disordered by nature

[SammyWinstonJack]

31. Well I am sad for the dad, but I still don't get why he didn't snap to where his baby was?

I am not passing judgment. I just don't understand. :shrug:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

21. I don't understand either, but it does happen

I chased a lady down once who had left her child in the carrier on top of her car.

[elehhhhna]

27. I would have said the same but when Bean was about 4 mos. old

hubs & I got ready to run out to the store or somewhere and at our front door we just looked at each other and said OH YEAH! THE BABY! OOPS!


It could happen.

[DS1]

29. If it's not his routine, and he's overworked like many people are, it's possible

I'm more surprised that the day care place didn't call either parent to see what's up

[TransitJohn]

7. Your actions/inactions directly lead to a humans death

**SHOULD** mean you do jail time, no exceptions. Like that time I "forgot" that a red light at an intersection means stop, and hit that boy scout helping the little old lady across said intersections.

[Kingshakabobo]

17. No, it **SHOULDN'T**. Unless the state can PROVE........

........INTENT or intent to act recklessly........and DON'T confuse an action that appears reckless with intent to act recklessly.

Your analogy holds no water......maybe it does if he can prove some sort of mental break which caused his "forgetting."

Say your driver is drugged/drunk and kills a boy scout..........he's drunk so there was no intent to kill.....BUT he intended to drink and get behind the wheel. -jail time.

Same driver gets slipped a GHB cocktail at the company picnic...........drives home and kills the same boy scout..........In your world he still needs to go to jail? - no jail time - no intent to kill or act recklessly.

Back to the OP.

Yes, people make mistakes. Mistakes do not necessarily mean INTENTIONAL callous disregard. Even though this is an awful incident the state STILL has to prove intent.

[TransitJohn]

33. It's simple

negligence that resulted in a death. Should mean jail time.

[Kingshakabobo]

36. It's a good thing the law isn't "simple."

Isn't it bad enough we have a simpleton running the country? Look were THAT got us.

[pitohui]

20. that is utterly and completely ridiculous

if we have to demonize someone and burn a witch every time there is a tragedy we do not deserve to call ourselves civilized, we are nothing but brutal and superstitious apes

who do you propose sending to jail over the tragedy of this baby? the dad, of course, and oh, the child care employees who didn't call immediately upon noticing a missing child, and the mom too why did she wait so long to call the dad...a string of things had to happen just wrong for this to happen, this is what we mean by tragic and accident

have some compassion, the taxpayer is not served or protected by putting these people in jail at our expense

[Fleshdancer]

12. This is the second time I've read about a dad who wasn't charged doing this....

but everytime I read about a mom doing this, she gets charged. :shrug:

[musette_sf]

15. this post from the Women's Rights group

may enlighten you as to why this sick dichotomy is accepted:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=229x3488

and this post in the thread says it all:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=229&topic_id=3488&mesg_id=7630

[Katherine Brengle]

25. Ooooh, I got cited!

:D

[Fierce]

37. Women are prosecuted more often and serve longer for this.

Men are distracted! Their routine was changed! And so on.

All I know is, I've yet to hear about someone forgetting to go to work their routine changed. That's sad, and says a lot.

[NashVegas]

19. Here's a Site That Tracks These Things

http://www.4rkidssake.org/

There are a few cases there where fathers were, indeed, charged. Mostly in the South.

[Katherine Brengle]

24. Exactly - it's ridiculous.

[theHandpuppet]

40. Yep, you noticed that, too

Interesting double standard, isn't it.

[DawgHouse]

44. Yes, I've noticed that too!

[malaise]

13. I'm glad for him

It was an awful accident.

[Katherine Brengle]

23. Are you f***ing serious?

If the mother did that, I bet you a million fucking dollars the media would already be saying she was depressed or mentally ill or some shit.

That's fucked up.

[Gormy Cuss]

39. Funny you should mention the gender difference.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/28/national/a090215D37.DTL&tsp=1

Sentences Vary When Kids Die in Hot Cars

By ALLEN G. BREED, AP National Writer

Saturday, July 28, 2007

...What is the appropriate punishment for a doting parent responsible for his child's death? A judge eventually spared Kelly a lengthy term in prison. Still, it is a question that is asked dozens of times each year.

Since the mid-1990s, the number of children who died of heat exhaustion while trapped inside vehicles has risen dramatically, totaling around 340 in the past 10 years. Ironically, one reason was a change parent-drivers made to protect their kids after juvenile air-bag deaths peaked in 1995 — they put them in the back seat, where they are more easily forgotten.

An Associated Press analysis of more than 310 fatal incidents in the past 10 years found that prosecutions and penalties vary widely, depending in many cases on where the death occurred and who left the child to die — parent or caregiver, mother or father:

_Mothers are treated much more harshly than fathers. While mothers and fathers are charged and convicted at about the same rates, moms are 26 percent more likely to do time. And their median sentence is two years longer than the terms received by dads....

[dorkulon]

26. Wow, that is just really sad.

I'm sure the guy is in his own private hell as it is.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

30. I'm Glad To Hear That. He's Suffered More Than Enough Already.

Can you imagine the pain this poor guy's gonna feel for the rest of his life? The guilt?

Holy cow. I couldn't even imagine.

Now granted, I couldn't imagine leaving either of my kids in the car either, but obviously for whatever reasons it was a mistake and one that ended tragically.

But the pain this poor guy is already going through and will continue to go through for the rest of his life, is already more harsh then he deserved.

Sad and tragic story all around. But I'm thankful that at least he and his wife won't have to endure the additional trauma of his having being jailed for it.

God bless all of them.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

34. Funny how the lives of actual children mean so little to some people...

[BlueGirlRedState]

35. The same thing happened at my daughter's daycare

The mom was the director of the daycare. She had just been promoted to that position. Her husband normally stayed home with their daughter but he had something to do that afternoon, so she took the child to the daycare with her, but it wasn't her normal routine. She forgot the child in the backseat, went into work and when it was time to leave, recalled she had brought her child with her. Ran to the car but it was obviously too late. She was not charged but lost her license to work in a daycare. She was distraught, suicidal. Her marriage broke up. Her life is over. A far worse punishment than any prison could ever be.

[lies and propaganda]

38. Not in Arizona..

we take that shit seriously... I dont care about he pain you must now feel having killed your child.. They should accidentally send him to prison for the rest of his life...

[BlackVelvet04]

42. For what purpose? n/t

[Horse with no Name]

41. Would be curious if he was on his cell phone

or distracted in some other way?

[gollygee]

43. There needs to be a solution to the problem, not punishment

It does trouble me that women are judged more harshly. Very unfair.

But tragic accidents happen with children and unless there was some extreme kind of negligence (like not bothering to put them into a car seat or doing drugs while taking care of them or something) then I don't think charges should be brought against them. The purpose of prosecution is to protect society and rehabilitate people. Society doesn't need to be protected and these people don't need to go to prison to be rehabilitated.

Car seats should have some kind of a warning or something. I have no idea how that could work but it seems like there should be some way to warn parents if they are trying to lock the car and there is weight still in the car seat.