Posted on 05/04/2007 9:43:22 AM PDT by bedolido
NEW YORK — A young mother's car left out of gear accidentally rolled over her only son and killed him, a year after her soldier husband was killed in Iraq, relatives and police said.
"It's a tragedy for all my family," said Evelyn Mercedes, 65, the soldier's grandmother. "My grandson dies. Now, this happens to the baby."
Christopher Mercedes, who turned 1 last month, slipped from his mom's arms as she got out of the sport utility vehicle that began rolling because it was in neutral gear rather than park, police said.
"She was hysterical, crying out, 'Somebody help me _ he's all I have,'" said neighbor Olga Rodriguez.
Witnesses, including an off-duty firefighter, said they tried unsuccessfully to revive the boy.
"The child wasn't breathing," said the firefighter, Luis Cruz. "I began rescue breaths. I lost the pulse."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
What a handsome little guy. And the photo of his dad - absolutely heartbreaking.
Hopefully the mother will talk to the police soon.
thanks for the link. Those pictures are heartbreaking.
Lord bless the family and give them Your peace.
Good point. From the article linked on the thread it looks like a recent model of the Jeep Liberty.
I am reserving judgment, but the child is dead and there should be a thorough investigation.
The little guy and his dad deserve nothing less.
After reading the whole article, I’m satified that this was one of those “perfect storm” accidents where all the necessary elements came together to make it happen. Very few accidents have only a single cause.
If you conspiracy theorists have this much time on your hands, why don’t you go start the barbecue and see if you can melt steel with fire? As for me, I will spend my next few minutes praying for this family, what’s left of it.
I suspect that the mother dropped the child only after being struck by an open door or otherwise pulled off balance by the vehicle suddenly moving. The greatest negligence, IMO, was in having the thing in neutral in the first place.
See post #35.
That's one plausible explanation. The article linked further down the thread references being struck by an open door.
I think the point I and others were trying to make is that if you leave an SUV in neutral, clamber down from the driver's seat to the ground and then open up a rear door and lean inside to unsnap a child from a car seat the car is likely going to noticeably have started into motion by the time these various actions are underway.
I'm not supposed to be sobbing at work...
May God comfort this poor family.
Post 35 is simply another silly post accusing other people of being conspiracy theorists when no one suggested a conspiracy in the first place.
Come on, have a little compassion, or at least give the mother the benefit of the doubt until the facts come out.
There are a lot of ways it could have happened. The car is on an incline with the wheels cut sharply. After she unstraps the child and backs out of the car with the child in her arms, the car starts to roll, she gets flustered and the child slips to the ground as the front wheels roll backwards over the poor kid.
Accidents happen. My grandfather ran over my grandmother with their car, a huge Buick LeSabre. (I know...even in my family we kind of snicker after the fact at this...years later)
He was 85 years old...my father had got my grandmother out of the car to walk her in the house while my grandfather parked the car. He had his foot on the gas and not the brake, and when the car started to move, he mashed the accelerator thinking it was the brake. The car shot over the lawn and crushed my grandmother against the side of the house, nearly severing her leg. My dad put a tourniquet on the leg (which she later lost), but my grandfather never completely recovered from that. He spent the last eight years of his life guilt ridden by seeing his wife in a wheelchair.
Accidents DO happen.
Why is this in the news? No media outlet will spare a persons misery for their own financial benefit. Shame on you Fox News.
I think that parent is going to be tortured much, much worse than that poor child was.
Good Lord...she needs compassion in the worst way.
I’m not attacking you, by the way...just making an observation.
Absolutely.
But this little boy's case deserves a full accounting for his sake and for his father's sake.
Oh, I know.
And I'm not accusing the mother of anything, despite the tomfoolery of certain triggerhappy posters here, yourself excluded.
Conspiracy, blame game, fault-finding. No matter. All a waste of time and energy.
This happened in my neighborhood. The Mother will not be charged as it was a tragic accident.
She was going to take the boy out of the carseat and realized the car was moving. As she tried to reach the gears
holding the baby, he fell out of her arms and under. Several people seen it happen and couldn’t believe it.
I believe her driveway has a slight incline at the end and the SUV was a relatively newer model.
Just pray for this woman’s peace of mind. I don’t know if I could survive that. Father and son are now together in a better place.
The child is with his or her father now...they know all the facts.
We may find out the mom is a crack addict, drunk or just the recipient of bad, bad luck, but right now, not much is known.
What section of the Bronx is this in?
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