Police: Mom Left Kids In Hot Car, Beat Good Samaritan

[cali]

2 Boys Left Inside Car In Parking Lot, Police Say

POSTED: 4:57 pm EDT July 12, 2011
UPDATED: 11:31 am EDT July 13, 2011

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indianapolis mother has been arrested, accused of leaving her children in a hot car and then beating a woman who stepped in to help, police said.

Heather Elliott told officers she saw two boys, ages 4 and 1, unattended inside a vehicle with the windows rolled up in the parking lot of the Kroger store at 1330 W. Southport Road on Monday evening. Elliott said the 4-year-old boy was crying hysterically.

"He was pushing up against the window, just screaming bloody murder, just screaming, his face all red," Elliott said.

When she approached the children's mother, Heather Query, 21, as she exited the store, Elliott said Query began yelling at her, telling her it was none of her business, and then punched her in the face.

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http://www.theindychannel.com/news/28525333/detail.html

[my2sense]

1. I'm so tired

of ignorant parents. What would ever justify leaving your small children in a car unattended?

SMDH

[gratuitous]

4. I'm guessing sheer ignorance

We're talking about a 21-year-old with two children ages 4 and 1. There was a time when a young woman in these circumstances would have some kind of social net around her, helping her with the care of her children. In our increasingly atomized society, however, everyone is encouraged, nay commanded, to be as "independent" as possible. Don't let nobody tell you what to do, how to live your life, or nothin'! I would surmise that the young mother doesn't have the best judgment and could use all the help anyone could offer. She's probably stressed to the max, running on a very thin margin to keep everything together. Her violent reaction to the other woman indicates as much. But it's very profitable for certain segments of our society to make sure this young mother is in this condition, and we honor the accumulation of wealth above practically every other consideration.

Our society is very sick, and any efforts to make it well or whole are met with ridicule, alarmist shrieks of "nanny state," and ill-informed criticism. Michelle Obama is working on children's nutrition and trying to get kids to eat healthier. For her trouble, she gets empty-headed nonsense from the likes of Sarah Palin, who defiantly (in her mind) prepare s'mores on a camping trip as way of showing up the First Lady. And that's just one example out of hundreds that could be cited.

The young mother could clearly do with a more supportive society that would teach her about the dangers of leaving her children in a closed car on a scorching hot day. It would also be nice if she wasn't having to run shopping errands all on her own, which is probably part of why she left the kids in the car in the first place.

[cali]

7. sorry, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know you don't leave your small children in a car

particularly on a very hot day. Her violent reaction to the other woman could indicate what you claim, or it could indicate any number of other things.

The young mother could do with a mandatory parenting class and visits from social services.

And you know nothing about her circumstances so your lofty rhetoric rings hollow. I've known a lot of poor young parents who would never do what this young woman did. Never. And just how do you know she just had to run shopping errands. Oh, and yeah, she could have brought the children in with her.

She's a lousy mother and a danger to her children.

[theHandpuppet]

15. +1

You said it all for me.

[MerryBlooms]

9. Why not just take the children in with you?

Honestly, there's just No justification of leaving your kids out in the car, especially on a hot day. Yes, we need a more supportive society, but really, there's something I recall called common sense. Running errands all on her own? Are you serious? I don't know of a mom who hasn't had to run errands on her own... shit, when I was 26, I had two kids in a Radio Flyer wagon and a black lab puppy, walking up to the local mkt. We were barely scraping by after buying our first home, no second car - I took my kids AND dog, everywhere. lol I guess my only saving grace was I had NO hot car to leave my kids and dog in. Eh, there's just NO excuse for leaving a kid or pet in a hot car.

[surrealAmerican]

11. If you tried that today ...

... they would kick you out of the store. "You can't bring that dog in here. It's against the health code." They'd probably make you leave the wagon outside too.


I don't know why she didn't just bring the kids with her. Perhaps the younger one was napping, and she didn't want to wake him or something. It was definitely unsafe, and a shame she apparently didn't know better.

[TheMadMonk]

10. If it's ignorance it's fucking willfull. Warnings about this have...

...been annual staple fare on TV for well over a decade now. Just have been all the warnings about Nigerian oil/gold & lottery scams. And a dozen (and more) other slot filler/seasonal segments warning and informing. The problem is not that nobody tells "these people". The problem is that "these people" absolutely flat out refuse to be told.

This is almost certainly a selfish/lazy bitch who figured (if she thought at all): "Whatever. I'll be five minutes." and ran straight into her best friend./Saw a beautiful little number she just had to try on. etc.

She is almost certainly the sort of person who walks past all the "Do not leave your children in the car" signs at casinos/pokie venues.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

19. Yeah, because having no support network excuses killing your kid.

WTF are you smoking?

[LiberalAndProud]

22. There are many young mothers who are doing an excellent job

in spite of all the demands of a difficult and demanding life. This can't be excused by the absence of a safety net. May it have made a difference? Possibly. Is it an excuse? Absolutely not. The woman needs interverention and those children need to be protected. If she'll punch a stranger, it's not a far leap to consider that she might go off on her kids in the same way.

Compassion is good, but I can't excuse this woman. Not even a little.

[Odin2005]

29. I have a teen mom counsin and thank God she has her parents and grandparents to help her.

[MicaelS]

36. A "more supportive society" riiiight....

And if someone tried to lecture her on "proper behavior", there would be people screaming "How dare you tell other people how to live?" If someone else tried to discipline someone else's publicly misbehaving child, there would be screams about "People sticking their nose where it doesn't belong."

And some of said people would be right here on DU.

That whole "It takes a village to raise a child" is a multi-way road, not just when it benefits your POV.

[Wait Wut]

38. I don't remember any "social net"...

...in the 80s when I was 18 and raising a son on my own. I refused welfare but requested subsidized childcare so I could go to school and work. They refused and told me to stay home and take care of my kid. No school grants or aid, no childcare, nothing unless I chose to go on welfare. I worked my ass off instead. I also didn't have a car until he was almost 4 years old and walked to his daycare and work every day. I also managed to go shopping by strapping two diaper bags to the back of his stroller. Don't tell me you feel bad because she had to go shopping all on her own. There's a spot on that cart that holds a kid. They even have carts that have baby seats. NO reason to lock your kids in a car.

I took my role of mother seriously. Most young women don't. Either because they don't have the maturity or they come from crappy homes themselves. Today, there are several organizations that focus on young, single mothers teaching them everything from the basics of being a mom to offering assistance with childcare and coping issues.

I'm not going to blame society for this chick's lack of maternal skills. I'll blame her and possibly her family. Too many young women out there fight to become good mothers and still (even today) have to deal with the stigma of being a single mother. Not all of them spend their time partying and leaving the kid with the grandparents...or in a locked car. I've reported several of these losers myself. Some have become decent parents. Others are now free to do as they wish because their kids are in foster care or have been adopted.

[gratuitous]

39. I stand corrected

Apparently a 21-year-old with two children is the paragon of good judgment, and the transgressions of this particular woman indicate that she is fit for nothing but slaughter. Should we go to the trouble of burning her at the stake, or is a simple bullet in the back of her head sufficient? I'm a little fuzzy on the proper disposition of the children, but doubtless there will be similarly well-informed discussion on the merits of grinding them into sausage versus putting them in military boarding school in preparation for service overseas at the proper time.

[tallahasseedem]

42. This is pure bullshit.

The lack of a safety net has nothing to do with the fact that she didn't bother to take her children into the store with her. Mothers every day (even younger ones than her, gasp!) get that they shouldn't leave their kids alone like that.

[snooper2]

44. You don't know jack about this person or her situation..so don't go making up

crap about our evil ass non-caring society...

Not everyone in the country is deeply enveloped into our political discourse or what the latest crap some nutty teabagging fuck said.

[Broderick]

5. Tired here too

It breaks my heart to hear any child cry, even my own more so. I can't understand. The hard lives kids have, and money or lack thereof is no damn excuse. Lazy lazy lazy uncaring people in the world.

[jberryhill]

12. Maybe she was going to a restaurant popular with DUers /nt

[TBF]

18. Don't even start with Olive Garden - the last post on that went on for pages ....

}(

[jberryhill]

25. Well, at least she didn't bring the kids in!

[my2sense]

26. If so she should have arranged for a responsible

adult to watch her children.

[jberryhill]

27. Well, heck, the car might have had OnStar

[Rex]

2. Wow, just wow.

Some people should never have kids. It is like the other day someone posted 'any idiot can buy a gun'...ya and they can drive a car AND have kids too! I feel for the woman punched in the face.

[MADem]

3. Jesus, what finishing school did she attend?

I think she needs a parenting class, that she can attend from BEHIND BARS.

How odd is it that both people in this piece are named Heather? Is that a common name for people in their twenties?

[Broderick]

6. no parenting class

can teach empathy and sympathy for their own children. If they cried in the hot locked un-aired car, they likely cry a whole heck of a lot more when nobody is looking. Saw a poor little girl at the beach who was obviously stung by a jellyfish and I was absolutely appalled by the mother's lack of concern or caring about the child. She couldn't have been more than 25 with 4 herself. Heartbreaking, and I get mad - a chore to keep my mouth shut. I did make a few helpful comments she ignored though. sad.

[Wait Wut]

40. Some parenting classes are a huge help.

Granted, some parents really just hate kids, but I've seen many that come out of those classes with a completely different attitude towards their children. Where abuse is involved, a parent that was a victim of abuse has a disconnect with their child and doesn't normally associate what they went through with what they're putting their child through. Making them aware of the physical and emotional trauma their causing can help in some cases. Not all.

[Obamanaut]

8. Ah, Flori....unh, er,....Ah, Tex......Er, I guess there are no geographical

limits to crazy.

[CaliforniaHiker]

14. So sad

I can't believe that there is really anybody who hasn't heard the warnings about leaving children in cars, especially on hot days. You really have to wonder what was going through her head considering her violent response to a good samaritan.

[RebelOne]

17. I would not even leave my dogs in a hot car.

Whenever I leave the the house, my 3 little dogs want to go for ride. I hate to disappoint them in summertime.

[Massacure]

13. I missed the word "Mom" in the subject line, haha

Police Left Kids in Hot Car, Beat Good Samaritan. That changes the meaning! :rofl:

[AtomicKitten]

16. Why does this shit keep happening -- to children and to pets????

How can people continue to be this neglectful, completely oblivious to the repercussions, with this stuff punctuated over and over again the press????

[Adsos Letter]

20. "...88 degrees outside with a heat index of 97 degrees ..."

Seems like a no-brainer to me. Apparently it did to the mom who tried to help also (from the article cited in cali's OP:

"I could have not done anything and saw them on the news tonight," Elliott told 6News' Ericka Flye. "You don't think twice about it. You just do it."

[riderinthestorm]

23. I'm in Northern IL and I can attest, it was damn hot yesterday. No excuses for this.

That mom needs some intervention and the woman who tried to help her didn't deserve to be bitch slapped.

[mysuzuki2]

21. A few years ago a prominent and infamous local Milwaukee

anti-choice activist pulled this same trick. She's kind of dropped out of sight and I don't remember her name anymore. She told the police that she left her 3(?) kids in the car because she was only going into the store for a few things. She became quite indignant at being questioned. They didn't buy it and cited her. So much for pro-life, hey? There is no excuse for this sort of behavior.

[pipi_k]

24. This is one of those times it's good...

to have a cellphone handy.


Number one, get photos or video of the kids in the car and the license number in case the parent is able to leave before the police get there.

Number two, call the cops.

[Odin2005]

28. She can't be all that smart if she had her first kid at 17. So I'm not suprised at this idiocy.

[Wait Wut]

41. Ouch.

My son was born less than a month after my 18th. Maybe I'm no genius, but I wouldn't say I'm not smart. Careful with the broad statements, please. Plenty of young women out there have children. Not all of them are morons.

[WatsonT]

30. What's the law regarding this sort of thing?

Can you break the window if you genuinely think the kid is in trouble and the mom isn't around (assuming she isn't there attacking you).

Are are you only allowed to call the police?

[lpbk2713]

31. That's why calling the cops is a good idea.

It should only take a short while for them to arrive. Let them be the ones to decide
on breaking out the window (and possibly hurting the kids with the shattered glass).

[WatsonT]

34. And apparently locking up the belligerent momma bear

[lpbk2713]

35. Most definitely.

I hope they threw the book at her. Child endangerment, assault on the
witness and I hope they impounded her car after they arrested her.

[WatsonT]

37. Kids probably got lucky

this will likely happen again and again if they aren't taken away.

Foster care may not be ideal but it sure beats baking to death in a locked car.

[Taverner]

32. Yet another antecdote that proves it takes a village, not a family...

[librechik]

33. call911, stand quietly by the car, when Heather starts to fuss tell her

"don't worry, you and I can discuss this with the poice, they're on the way."

Or I would have grabbed her fist and turned it into a chokehold. On Heather. Just restraining her for the officers.

[snooper2]

43. This is the type of person that needs a beatdown

[lpbk2713]

45. Update from two hours ago.

Heather Q has pleaded Not Guilty, been released on $5,000 bond, lowered from $11,000.
Ordered to stay away from Heather E and her three kids who also witnessed the events,
subject to GPS monitoring until she returns to court. She could get seven years.


Link: http://www.theindychannel.com/news/28546784/detail.html