Posted on 09/06/2007 7:18:13 AM PDT by Froufrou
No charges will be filed against a middle school administrator whose toddler daughter died last month when she was left in the back seat of her mother's SUV during a heat wave, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Leaving the child in the car for the work day was "a substantial lapse of due care" but did not meet the definition of reckless conduct necessary for prosecution, said Clermont County Prosecutor Don White.
Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby, 40, is assistant principal at Glen Este Middle School, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati. Authorities said she left her 2-year-old daughter, Cecilia, strapped into a car seat for about eight hours on Aug. 23 while she was at work at the school.
Temperatures outside reached about 100 degrees.
I would call THAT.."a substantial lapse of due care"!!
How could someone NOT remember they had their child strapped into the car seat? I can't imagine that someone would do this by accident. . .it's beyond what I can understand.
‘A mistake’ that takes a LIFE??? No charges to be filed?
“Jerry and Bonnie concocted a story that Serena’s heat illness had been caused by her being left unattended on a bed where she covered herself in blankets and became overheated.”
This is probably the biggest reason why Bittner was charged. They’re poor alright, but also stupid.
Get off it, loser.
God forbid if you ever make a mistake that has terrible consequences. This thread will rub it in until the day you die.
Yes.
but give the woman a break.
I can't. If she can't remember her own child is in the car seat, then she shouldn't be a principle of a school.
This makes me absolutely sick. The mother may not be prosecuted, but she will have to live with this devastating, irresponsible act for the rest of her life, not to mention the blame, whether overtly or covertly, from the child’s father, grandparents and other relatives, etc. Her life is destroyed. My guess is authorities realize further punishment wouldn’t make much of a difference.
Yes, just like the countless parents who roll over their toddlers in the garage because they don’t see them. Should they all go to jail too?
Then why have laws against manslaughter?
“Something smells funny here!”
That was EXACTLY my first thought! That, and why didn’t the day care call her?
However, another poster alleges that this was the fourth time this woman had left her child in a vehicle. If that can be substantiated, my sympathy for her is greatly diminished.
Oh please.
The fact that the kid was in the back seat has nothing to do with it.
If you have to have your kid in the seat next to you to remember that the child is in the car, something is really wrong.
Poor, defenseless little child. Carted off to day care so that Mommy can take care of other people’s kids. This Mommy has to be far more diligent in keeping track of the welfare of other people’s kids than she does her own. Such negligence would have resulted in a lawsuit BIG TIME and probably criminial negligence. But since it’s her own kid, oops, ‘it was a mistake.’
“but give the woman a break.
I can’t.”
Hoo Boy, its MEGOODY2SHOES, the PETER PERFECT of FreeRepublic, who never, ever, has a brain fart and is ordaned by God to sit in judgement over everyone on the planet.
Hey, Goody2shoes, why don’t we just haul her out in the street and stone her?
I don't think it's the government connection. It's that she's probably a 'fine, upstanding member of the community.' Taxpaying, educated citizen and all that. If Mrs. Schmo was a cashier at a 7/11 or on welfare or had a history of substance abuse (even if not high at the time), the consequences would be as you suggest. Money walks...even if the money is only a teacher's salary.
Hmmm, somehow I thought ‘negligence’ and ‘murder’ were things you couldn’t do, NO MATTER WHAT YOUR EXCUSE. Evidently we are not all equal under the law and if you have a good excuse you can do illegal stuff.
This is getting harder and harder to wrap my brain around. The nuances ...
Oh my Lord! Not the first time?!
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