Posted on 09/04/2010 12:34:29 PM PDT by mnehring
WEST ASHLEY, SC (WCSC) - A family dog played hero and helped save the life of a 3-year-old girl Thursday night in West Ashley. The girl's father, however, was arrested on child neglect charges.
Rescue crews were called to the Hickory Hill subdivision in West Ashley around 7 p.m. and found a girl in the water. A witness told authorities that he saw a dog nudging the girl to keep her from going under water. She was neck and chest deep in the pond located behind her house.
The girl's sister was also outside when the incident happened.
Crews from the St. Andrews Fire Department and Charleston Fire Department pulled the girl from the water and she was transported to Roper St. Francis Hospital.
The witness went into the unlocked residence and found the girl's father, 33-year-old Adam S. Gray, asleep in his bed. After several attempts, he was able to wake him.
(Excerpt) Read more at kltv.com ...
Gray told authorities that he was watching both his daughters all day and that around 5 p.m. he put them inside their cribs when they fell asleep and he closed the door to their room. He then went inside his room and fell asleep.
According to the sheriff's office, the two girls pushed down the gate that was located at the edge of the stairs inside the house and were able to go out the side rear door of the house into the backyard toward the pond.
So they arrested him for sleeping? Wow
He went to bed at 5 pm??!!! on drugs, I bet. Doors were not locked, kids were not protected enough. He’s responsible.
Or he works 3rd shift. Or the kids have kept him from getting a good night’s sleep for a couple years.
Also, lokcing interior doors with toddlers can be dangerous, for example if there is a fire.
Not enough facts to make a call on this one IMHO.
You’ve never taken a nap during the day????
He puts the girls in their cribs to sleep at 5pm and then went to sleep himself. Two hours later, he’s still asleep and hasn’t heard the girls pushing down a gate. AND, a witness had problems waking him.
First, expecting a 3yo girl to stay in her crib, sleeping or not, for three hours in most cases is unreasonable. None of our three year-olds took that long of a nap.
Second, it’s up to the adult to make absolutely certain that children that age are kept safe from water hazards. When a person has a pond in his backyard, this requires extra caution.
Third, assuming the guy is a VERY sound sleeper, then it’s up to him to make sure that if the girls get past a safe point in the house, that he is awakened. When I needed to sleep, I’d get the kids in a safe room and sleep in the doorway, so the only way for them to get out was to crawl over me. Perhaps he needed to buy a cheapie alarm from Radio Shack to make noise in the event the gate is breached.
Ugh, I obviously had the number three on my mind. It should be “for TWO hours”.
Agreed. Parent should keep their children from ALL hazards.
But do we arrest every parent whose child drowns in the pool? Every parent whose child who eats poisonous chemicals under the sink? .... starts a fire with matches left where they could be found?... runs out into traffic and gets hit by a car? ...
I was commenting on this particular story. It wasn't one simple error or coincidence that allowed the girl in the water. There were multiple failures. Accidents happen. So does negligence.
There are multiple errors every time a child dies...
The parents were distracted. They forgot basic safety protections. They were watching close enough.
Geez. Why don’t we arrest the parents if they let their child get kidnapped at a Wal Mart.
I'm surprised they didn't arrest the witness -- I mean, this person saw the girl in the water and didn't get her out. She remained in the pond until a professional rescue unit showed up. That's knowingly failing to rescue a child in a dangerous situation. But, I guess arresting sleeping Dad just seemed like the right thing to do -- after all, he was pretty sure the kid was asleep in her crib. That's criminal behavior, right there. [/s]
I went out this noon, got lunch, came home, and fell asleep in my recliner for about two hours. If those girls had been mine they could have gotten out of the house and jumped into the back yard swimming pool that’s 8 feet deep in the deep end. Something like this could happen to a lot of people. Fortunately, and because of a dog, nobody was seroiusly injured.
But, would you have fallen asleep in your recliner without taking additional precautions? When my kids were that age, I didn’t.
The man had a dog that protected the kids. Doesn’t he get a little credit for that?
He decided to try and catch some sleep while his kids slept? Lock him up! \s
Hell, there are people on FR who want parents put in jail for letting their kids ride in motocross.
Probably an Obama voter.
So your solution is to arrest every parent who hasn’t taken every “additional precaution” to avoid any possible accident?
I don’t know if South Carolina law could charge this “witness” with depraved indifference for allowing the girl to remain in the pond, but North Carolina law does. This “witness” is as culpable as the father, IMHO.
I just don’t think, as a parent, you have that freedom to sleep while you are on watch.
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