# Another fucking dead baby in the parking lot:

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [July 31, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080 "2003-07-31T06:45:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/21 "2003-07-31T15:30:14Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Palikia \*  
> \*\*The latest word on the 6:00 AM news was that the two-month old infant had been dead six hours or more. So this woman either spent seven hours in the K-Mart or she had been driving around with a dead baby in the car for several hours. \*\*

I raised an eyebrow when it was stated that the bay was already in rigor. How long does it take to apply for a job at Target? I wouldn’t be suprised if the autopsy shows death by abuse, and the mother was just trying to cover up.

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**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/22 "2003-07-31T15:32:57Z")

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This is only partially related to the OP, but it took me and three male nurses to physically restrain one of our ER docs one night after we lost an 18 month old due to abuse.

I have never seen such anger! It would have ended his career if we had let him loose. That isn’t to say his reaction was appropriate, but it was certainly understandable. He would have killed the guy. I _know_ it.

Afterward, we all just wept and hugged. And when I say **wept** I don’t mean the guys just choked up and swallowed hard. We all cried real tears, and it took days to recover.

I have posted this comment before, but it bears repeating: I can’t **stand** to lose a child. I know I’m supposed to apply my TLC to everyone, but the little ones are the most precious to me.

To fracture a phrase from Dickens: The child abusers: God damn them. Everyone.

Sorry for the hijack.

Q

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**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/23 "2003-07-31T15:35:43Z")

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Wow, that’s a beautiful strawman. Can I take it home with me? Those goddamned crows won’t leave my corn alone.

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**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/24 "2003-07-31T15:37:59Z")

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_sigh_ My first comment was meant for **whuckfistle**

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/25 "2003-07-31T15:44:42Z")

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Since we moved to the 'burbs, I have seen kids left alone in cars 4 times in 1 1/2 years (I’m sure the people in each case were “just running in”:rolleyes: ).  
People are **just not getting it**. We are in Canada, sure, but it gets plenty hot here to kill kids in summer. And, as a bonus, your kids can also die in the winter here in a very, very short time. Cars don’t hold heat, and children can die from suffocation if you leave the car running and the heater going. Not to mention child abduction, etc. etc. People piss me off.

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**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/26 "2003-07-31T15:45:23Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \*  
> \*\*:mad: ☹
> 
> What the fuck is WRONG with these people? What a stupid, stupid bitch!
> 
> We have to start making it a felony to leave a child in a car for any length of time for any reason and we have to start making some fucking EXAMPLES of morons like this.
> 
> We make it a felony to leave a baby in the car, and if the baby dies, it’s felony murder. Fuck, this shit pisses me off.
> 
> If I EVER see a baby alone in a car, I’m going to smash the fucking window and get it out, then I’m going to call the fucking cops…and god help anybody that I catch in the act. This shit has got to stop. \*\*

What? And stomp all over peoples freedoms? If a woman can have an abortion why can`t she leave her child in the car. She didn`t _intend_ for the child to die afterall. She did however intend for the abortion to end in death.  
A felony? And risk filling up the jails? Make a poor mother pay her whole life for one bad judgement? Not in these liberal courts you wont.  
God? What God? How`d he get pulled into this? Maybe if God was allowed back into society we wouldn`t have these problems.

You`re right about one thing - she is clearly a moron, a trait which seems to be contagious these days.

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**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/27 "2003-07-31T15:46:29Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Quasimodem \*  
> \*\*To fracture a phrase from Dickens: The child abusers: God damn them. Everyone. \*\*

If this gets me flamed, then so be it. I asked myself if I really meant that statement up there, and yeah, I really did. I’ll wear a **suit** of flames and wear it proudly. I do not want one more little one dying needlessly due to stupidity or abuse.

Seen too much, I guess.

Q

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**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/28 "2003-07-31T15:47:03Z")

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Sorry for the DP, things screwed up here.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/29 "2003-07-31T15:50:50Z")

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(I’ve asked for a mod to fix my particularly inappropriate coding error in that last post. Sheesh.)

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**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/30 "2003-07-31T16:03:30Z")

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Know what I think? I think that sometimes it’s very much an intentional way to kill a child, and all the parent has to do is weep about how awful it is, and they don’t get charged with murder. I strongly suspect that MOST of these ‘accidents’ are not accidents at all, but a way to kill a child where you don’t watch it suffer, and you yourself suffer no consequences for being the person responsible.

That’s what I think.

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**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/31 "2003-07-31T16:29:54Z")

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I was reading a magazine in my Doctor’s waiting room. IIRC, it was Popular Science.

They had an article that car manufacturers have a device that will begin to show up on cars around '04. It is a motion detector. The way it works (again, IIRC) if the car is not in motion and gets to a certain temp, the motion sensor kicks in. It is, apparently, highly sensitive and can sense the motion from a baby breathing. The alarm is a very highpitched S.O.S. sound and then a continuous honk, S.O.S, etc.

The article was interesting in that they talked about studies done with college students. The students reported extreme dizziness after about 20 minutes.

I hope that these alarms really work and do actually come to be in use.

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**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/32 "2003-07-31T17:08:07Z")

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BNB, the only problem I see is if they use the same sounds that current car alarms use. No one even looks twice when they go off anymore. Maybe if they use a very distinct noise, it will work. I like the idea that it kicks in at a particular temperature, too- that way it protects animals and kiddies. Frankly, I’m at a loss as to how this “accidently” happens. I don’t even take my dogs OUT on hot days, much less leave them in the car for any period of time.

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**Author:** ![LauraLittlePony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LauraLittlePony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LauraLittlePony)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/33 "2003-07-31T17:17:28Z")

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Not that a device that could help this situation wouldn’t be great, **Bad News Baboon**. . . but with a motion sensor like that, what if you just had a bug in your car or something? I have bugs in my car annoyingly frequently; wouldn’t they set it off?

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**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/34 "2003-07-31T17:34:49Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by dwc1970 \*  
> \*\*Police have not released the name of the woman or the infant. \*\*

Why not? Let’s release the names of these baby killers so we can all point at them whenever we see them in the street. Let us know their names so we know who to shun for the rest of their short natural lives. Most of all, let’s know their names so we know who should never be allowed to breed again. EVER.

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**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/35 "2003-07-31T17:43:42Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Sorry for the DP, things screwed up here.

You should be sorry for the first one, too. That was ridiculous.

I agree with **featherlou** , that people aren’t getting it. My mom would let me sleep in the car when I was a kid, if I had napped as she ran errands. We’d get home, she’d pull into the driveway, and when I woke up I’d come inside (this was when I was a kid, not a baby). It was done out of simple ignorance in those days-- I could be wrong, but you just didn’t hear about kids getting cooked to death in cars then, for whatever reason. But these days, it’s all over the news with dismaying regularity. How people could hear those stories and then DO THE SAME DAMN THING themselves, I just don’t understand.

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/36 "2003-07-31T17:51:46Z")

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She’s only charged with endagnerment & abandonment? Why not manslaughter?

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**Author:** ![Angel\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Angel\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_Heart)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/37 "2003-07-31T17:51:55Z")

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Sadly, where I live (DC area), we have at least one or two cases of children dying in overheated cars **every single year**. You think idiots would actually watch the news and some of it would seep into their three-foot thick skulls.

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**Author:** ![DaToad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@DaToad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaToad)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/38 "2003-07-31T18:54:57Z")

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I woke up to this headline in my local newspaper this AM: [http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0731carkid31.html](http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0731carkid31.html)

“Police believe Wetzel had taken one child to the bathroom and then got engaged in a phone conversation, forgetting about the child in the van.”

Engaged in a phone conversation and forgot…

I’m too disgusted to even try to say anything.

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**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/39 "2003-07-31T19:12:38Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by LauraLittlePony \*  
> \*\*Not that a device that could help this situation wouldn’t be great, **Bad News Baboon**. . . but with a motion sensor like that, what if you just had a bug in your car or something? I have bugs in my car annoyingly frequently; wouldn’t they set it off? \*\*

Modern motion sensors (even cheapies) are sophisticated enough not to be tricked by bugs, or slight variations in the field they are scanning.

Even some cheapie motion sensing security lights don’t get tripped up by moths, bugs, and insects in general.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-fucking-dead-baby-in-the-parking-lot/192080/40 "2003-07-31T19:26:52Z")

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Thanks for the fix, **Coldie**.

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