Reply
Wed 9 Jul, 2003 10:53 am
Mother Behind Bars Following Children's Heat-Related Deaths
By Lynne Hostein
July 9, 2003, 9:04 AM PDT
LANCASTER -- A day care operator has been arrested, after her two foster sons died in a sweltering car.
It happened outside A Child's Place daycare in Lancaster.
Leslie Sue Smoot, 48, of Lancaster, told authorities she left her sons in her Cadillac SUV at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday.
Five hours later Smoot found the 5-year-old boy already dead. The 3-year-old died of severe dehydration a short time later.
Temperatures hovered around 100 degrees outdoors but inside the vehicle, may have soared to above 120 degrees.
Smoot is being held on $100,000 bail on suspicion of child endangerment and possibly manslaughter.
According to L.A. County Sheriff's Lt. Al Grotefend, Smoot "indicated she thought some one else was going to get the children out of the car, possibly her husband. There was some miscommunication."
Thirty children died last year after being left in cars.
Sheriff Lee Baca reminds the public, "Vehicles are not playpens. Vehicles are not baby sitters. And vehicles, when they are not properly ventilated, are death traps."
Just a friendly reminder...
I've heard of people leaving their dogs in cars ... but this is incredible!
Yes, it's awful - obviously some people are too stupid to be responsible for children. She should definitely be charged with manslaughter.
I see you're in Germany, It happens all the time here in the US especially in the south or southwest.- Believe it or not!
I mean all the time.
FIVE HOURS! Those poor kids!
If they had left their dogs in the car, they probably would have cracked the window. Not that that would have done alot of good.
Well, you would be accused of manslaughter here. (Actually, I've never heard of such a case: cars are opened by police, even if there are only dogs inside [at summer heat].)
I'm
I'm disturbed by the hint--although it is difficult to be sure because the news story is brief--that Ms. Smoot feels SHE is not responsible because her husband was to get the boys out of the car.
This woman is a day care operator? Undoubtedly her arrest has sent other families scrambling to make emergency arrangements for child care elsewhere.
The mind boggles.
When these stories started to hit the news a few years back, many of the incedents were due to blatant neglect and some were caused by a horrible mix-up in communication. --But there are so many now and they are so well publicized there can't possibly be any excuse anymore.
I have a friend who ran a day care center. Children were to be picked up by 5:30 unless special--very special--arrangements were made.
At least once a month a child would not be picked up and my friend had to call home numbers and work numbers and notify-in-case-of-emergency numbers. Usually the erring parent "forgot" the kid.
I wonder how many children are rescued from hot cars before absent minded neglect turns into tragedy?
Noddy,
Ya know how you talked about testing for adulthood? I was then, as I am now, reminded of my desire to ahve people tested for parenthood.
You must pass tests to drive, but not to rear childrena nd have their lives in your hands.
Well, now that you mentioned it. Last year I flagged down a cop when I discovered a threeish kid locked in a car, alone, in the sun, in a strip mall parking lot, far from the stores, in the summer, in Southern California....... He was hysterical and banging on the window. Luckily the cop was driving by or I would have had to intervene. The parents or whoever came out of the video store looking at the cop like "So what's the big deal?". I split before it was resolved so I don't know what happened.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace