This happened very close to home, and it’s a tragic story indeed. So many people are rallying for the parents (without waiting for the whole story to come out) and expressing sympathy, but I keep thinking - what if it had been a daycare provider, babysitter, teacher or bus driver who had been in charge of the two-year old at the time he went missing?
Why are third party caregivers held to a higher standard than a child’s parents? If it had been a babysitter/daycare/teacher/bus driver that person would be in jail by now; life ruined.
Part of the story is not adding up. How did a two-year old get access to car keys? Could he have done this himself?
Would you like this moved to The BBQ Pit for Recreational Outrage?
I am not sure what you want to debate. The story to which you linked made a significant point of the aspect that Law Enforcement is going to be looking into the entire matter.
That the parents are receiving emotional support is not surprising; they are the ones who are suffering the loss. Until such time as the police construct a probable scenario, I would expect the parents–who are clearly grieving–to be supported by their friends. If it turns out that one or both of them are guilty of negligence or criminal act, there will be plenty of time to express anger against them at that time.
Really not seeing how a two year old gets himself into a locked trunk. Also not seeing how an innocent adult could shut a trunk without seeing a child inside.
One possible scenario is that the child was deliberately hiding as part of a game. One can’t otherwise comment until some hard information is in, obviously.
I know from experience that children can get themselves locked in trunks. Reposting part of my post from the children in hot cars thread -
As for my own short story, I’m not sure how relevant it is, but I got locked in the trunk once in early grade school (forget which grade). I’d come home from school and gotten the bright idea to play in the trunk, then closed the lid and found myself locked in there. My grandma was the only one home, and doing yardwork way in the backyard, so my beating the car and screaming and crying went unnoticed for almost a half hour. Given that this was in Hawaii during the summer, should she not have come to the front of the house (kitchen) to get a drink of water when she did, it would be only too easy to imagine other scenarios playing out.
And I know that two year olds can also understand keys. One my dads favorite stories to tell about me was how when I was two I took his keys off his nightstand, went out to the car and tried to start it. It was a stick shift so I basically just ended up ramming it into the back of the garage. The reason it was such a great story was that I did the exact same thing two nights later.
So it is possible the child did this to himself. Whether that was the case or how likely it may be I can’t say, beyond saying that it is a possibility.
In terms of a double standard, there is a difference between a parent watching their child and a paid caregiver watching a child. The parent is generally doing the watching while also responsible for all the things necessary for managing family life. Laundry, shopping, bills, cleaning, mowing the lawn, etc. Paid caregivers are being hired to put aside all of those things for the time they are being paid to watch children.
Example, it is reasonable to expect the babysitter to avoid phone calls during the 3 hours they are watching the child. It is less reasonable to expect a parent to avoid phone calls for every single moment their child is awake.
So, when someone asks “what were you doing” when the child went missing, the parent may respond with a normal, necessary, everyday task, the caregiver is going to respond with “something besides the job I was hired to do.” Occasionally the parent is simply drunk and disorderly, and those parents get into plenty of trouble.
Don’t you think there is a not insignificant difference between a grade schooler and a two year old in terms of their respective ability to close a trunk on themselves? I get what you’re saying, that kids can and do get themselves into precarious situations all the time without realizing the danger. Still, a two year old opened the trunk (of a locked car that was totally inaccessible at the time of his disappearance, according to statements made to police, hence why it wasn’t searched thoroughly in the first place…), climbed in, then pulled the trunk lid closed behind him without any help at all?
The kid who locked himself in the trunk was in grade school, at least 6 years old. A two year old could not lock himself in a truck. Someone did something to this child, but it doesn’t mean it was the parents or that they were neglectful. The police are investigating.
Really? Arrested on the spot and immediately jailed?
My son will be three in October. I think that it’s possible that he could climb into the open trunk of our sedan and close it. He’s climbed onto things that high before.
I can also see that one wouldn’t expect him to be in there, so that’s why it wouldn’t be searched.
I’ll also point out that many cars today have trunks that close by remote push button. A child could easily crawl into the trunk, and the owner close it without ever having to look inside.
If you are interested, the St. Paul Pioneer Press has many articles on this story starting with the day the boy went missing. I have not paid close attention to the story but it has been all over the news locally.
I’ve seen van and SUV tailgates that do this, but not trunk lids. I have seen cars with a trunk pull-down feature but that only closes it the last couple inches. One article says it was a Chevy Impala, so maybe you know if this model has that feature. However, the fact that it was being repaired by the kid’s dad instead of at a dealership might indicate that it was an older model.
Newer articles than the one posted in the OP report that the boy died from hyperthermia and that several sets of keys, including those for that car, were found with him in the trunk.
For those saying that a 2 year old can’t close the trunk, you’re probably thinking that he couldn’t reach it to pull it down. However, you may not realize that the trunk hinge could be easily reached by a small child and pulling on that could close the trunk lid.
I’m not doubting your story, but you were two, and I do dispute the details: Every stick shift car I’ve driven requires pushing in the clutch while turning the key to start it. I don’t think a two year old is tall enough or has the strength.
But as for the OP, I can totally see it. Kids get locked in trunks all the time and die. It used to be refrigerators. Maybe we need internal trunk opening handles installed by default in new cars? Or some other safety mechanism to prevent these sorts of accidents.
Old cars don’t necessarily have the clutch feature. My brother ran my dad’s '68 Vette off the driveway by turning the key too far when asked to close the power windows.
Trunks also are equipped with Interior Trunk Releases, but what 2 year old could operate one if he even knew it existed?
Yeah, the engine usually wouldn’t start because the RPM was too low, but the starter motor had enough torque to jerk the vehicle a couple of feet ahead if you cranked the starter with it in gear and without the clutch engaged.
My last stick was an '89, and it didn’t need the clutch in. And at work, we had a late '90s truck that didn’t need the clutch in, either.
Also, as far as a 2 year old closing a trunk, my cat could figure out how to open the back door, and every 2 year old I’ve known is smarter than my cat. I’m sure one could figure out a way.
In fact, you can drive yourself off RR tracks if you stall there, using only your starter motor, although you may kill the starter in the process.
As for the car, IIRC, it was an 80s Mazda. Can’t get more specific than that, sorry :-/
And I’ll have to agree with the other posters in this topic saying it is possible for a 2 y/o, especially an older one. Maybe not probable, something foul here is certainly an option, but it is possible that simple neglect or even a slip of the eye could be the case. I’m a little surprised it doesn’t happen more often, but maybe most tykes had a tad more foresight than I did.
Sorry for the drive by; life got in the way & my computer died.
It looks like the child may have done this himself, but I still don’t feel the parents should get off that easily. Who is ultimately responsible? This comes up in other cases, too; such as children shooting themselves or other children with guns they shouldn’t have had access to, or parents leaving kids in hot cars - it seems their sentences are more lenient.
Cheesesteak - good points, but third-party caregivers (unless strictly hired to watch one child) have other duties to attend to, too. Teachers -watching a whole class of students; bus drivers - driving a bus; daycare providers - have other children to watch; and so on.
My main reason for putting this in GD is the whole parents-get-off thing vs. baby sitters/teachers/bus drivers not getting-off if one of their charges perish under their watch. Why the double standard?