Chicago police arrested a women for leaving her child in a car for less than five minutes to pick up an item at Whole Foods. She was subsequently changed with endangering the life of a child. My friend was appalled by the decision. What do you think? Before you respond, here are some relevant facts: 1 - 38 children die in the U.S. every year as a result of being left alone in a car. 2 - In this particular instance, it was a mild, sunny day. It was 75 degrees. One window in the car was left down about three inches. 3 - In 75 degree sunny weather a light colored car can be expected to heat up to about 120 degrees in 10 minutes. 75% of that temperature rise (109 degrees) happens in the first five minutes. A dark colored car with dark seats could heat up to 200 degrees in 10 minutes. Again, 75% of that rise (165 degrees) occurs in the first five minutes. The article does not indicate if the car was light or dark and there is no direct indication of how hot the car got, but the conditions suggest that the car would have heated up to at least 109 degreees and perhaps as much as 160 degrees while the woman was in the store. 4 - It is relatively common to arrest and charge people with endangering the life of a child when a child is left alone in a car for even brief periods of time. Three states have zero tolerance for leaving a child unattended in a car. 5 - 1500 children are shot and killed each year by guns in their homes. The most common scenario involves a child finding an unlocked gun and shooting a friend or sibling with it. It is unusual for parents to be arrested or charged with endangering the life of a child for leaving unlocked guns around the house, even though deaths are roughly 40 times more common. 6 - 9000 children die each year in car accidents, most often as passengers, but so long as the parent is sober and the children are wearing seat belts and are seated in appropriate booster seats it is extremely unlikely that a parent will be arrested or charged with endangering the life of a child for driving a car with children in it or being in an accident, even though deaths are over 230 times more common. Are we overreacting to leaving children unattended in a car for brief periods of time?
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 16:06:17 +0000
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