# Grandmother forces 4-year-old to drink whiskey until she dies with her mother watching {2022-04-22} **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2022, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298 "2022-04-23T00:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/1 "2022-04-23T00:32:01Z")
A Louisiana grandmother and mother are in custody on first-degree murder charges after the grandmother allegedly forced her 4-year-old granddaughter to drink from a bottle of whiskey until she died. Cause of death: Acute alcohol poisoning. > **[Louisiana grandmother forced 4-year-old to drink whiskey until she died: police](https://www.cp24.com/mobile/world/louisiana-grandmother-forced-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-died-police-1.5872148)** > > A 4-year-old girl is dead after her grandmother allegedly forced her to drink a bottle of whiskey while her mother watched, Baton Rouge Police said. The little girl had a blood alcohol level of 0.680% at time of death. That’s more than eight times the legal intoxication level for a healthy _adult_. Just to get an idea of how _extremely_ high that is, I looked up the script for the film _Death Becomes Her_. In the fantasy concocted by Bruce Willis’s lover in which she makes the death of his wife look like a brutal, fiery drunk driving accident in which she drives off a cliff, the coroner reads her blood alcohol content as 0.40% and says “She had it coming”. This little girl’s blood alcohol level was more than 150% of THAT. These two women need to be locked away FOREVER. ETA: Actually, you know what? Capital punishment is legal in Louisiana. I think this is one time that it’s justified. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/2 "2022-04-23T00:35:30Z")
It’s a horrendous story, whether because the adults are guilty, or because they face a false accusation after losing their child. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/3 "2022-04-23T00:36:29Z")
Quite right, of course. In this country, we are all innocent until proven guilty. It’s difficult to remember that, sometimes. Okay. I’ll temper my reaction. _If_ they are found guilty, they need to be held accountable. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/4 "2022-04-23T01:53:25Z")
I am willing to leave the final justice to the judge and jury, but from the wording of the article > While investigating, detectives say they learned the victim’s grandmother forced her to drink a bottle of the alcohol while the mother watched. I’m going to _guess_ that when the child became unresponsive one of the above called 911. And that when the cops got there, that same person told the cops that they told the cops what occurred and that they didn’t MEAN anything bad to happen. IE they probably accidentally confessed. In situations like this, where I don’t think there’s much debate on the facts of the matter, I feel comfortable in judging the family harshly, for negligence if absolutely nothing else. But again, the consequences I am happy to leave to the court - I don’t need any more bad karma as it were. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/5 "2022-04-23T03:16:40Z")
Why in hell would anyone force a 4-year-old to drink whiskey in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/6 "2022-04-23T03:35:41Z")
To punish her for being suspected of stealing a sip. From a different reporting of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/7 "2022-04-23T08:28:39Z")
Yeah it’s either old school “If you like it so much have the entire thing!” punishments or it’s the parent thinking it’s “funny” to watch a kid drink. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/8 "2022-04-23T08:47:22Z")
How can you force a four year old to drink a whole _bottle_ of whiskey? How can you force anybody to do that? The child would have passed out (or died) long before the bottle was empty, or else probably choked from throwing up. ETA: an alcohol level of 0.680% would kill almost any grown-up too. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/9 "2022-04-23T09:29:37Z")
There’s a fuller version of the story here: > **[Siblings told police about grandmother making 4-year-old sister drink whiskey...](https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/crime_police/article_479df9ce-c26a-11ec-9cba-1b6b7925ae20.html)** > > A 4-year-old girl died after her grandmother suspected she may have stolen a sip of whiskey and then forced the child to drink the rest of the bottle as her Another source said grandma told investigators that she wanted to take “full responsibility” for what happened. The story also notes that a fatal BAC starts at around 0.36% This is just awful and baffling. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/10 "2022-04-23T13:42:10Z")
That particular article is paywalled. Subscribers-only. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/11 "2022-04-23T14:14:33Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > To punish her for being suspected of stealing a sip. From a different reporting of the story. Thanks for clearing that up. I was wondering about this. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/12 "2022-04-23T19:26:11Z")
Weird. I’m not a subscriber. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/13 "2022-04-24T21:36:35Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m not a subscriber. You are allowed so many “free” articles before you get blocked. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/14 "2022-04-25T01:19:15Z")
I started reading and then it told me to subscribe, which prevented me from reading the rest of the article. > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > The child would have passed out (or died) long before the bottle was empty, or else probably choked from throwing up. It doesn’t pass the sniff test for me, either. I suspect there’s more to it than that. According to this you’d be unconscious at .40. I realize there’s a delayed effect between the moment you drink it and the time it hits your blood stream but… [http://celtickane.com/projects/blood-alcohol-content-bac-calculator/](http://celtickane.com/projects/blood-alcohol-content-bac-calculator/) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/15 "2022-04-25T01:23:46Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Yeah it’s either old school “If you like it so much have the entire thing!” punishments Yes, that’s probably what it was. I’ve heard tales of people who, as teens, would smoke cigarettes in secret but then their parents who caught them (or whoever) would try to reverse-psychology punish them by forcing them to smoke an entire carton at once (or several), the idea being to make them feel so revolting that they’d never smoke again. So that’s probably what they were doing to this 4-year old girl. Ironically, the girl probably didn’t even have any concept of what alcohol was, or the significant of drinking alcohol. It’s not like she was some teen. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/16 "2022-04-25T03:49:30Z")
The article said it was around half full. (If you click on the reader view in the url on paywalled articles, you can read them.) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/17 "2022-04-25T18:45:54Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > It doesn’t pass the sniff test for me, either. I suspect there’s more to it than that. According to this you’d be unconscious at .40. I realize there’s a delayed effect between the moment you drink it and the time it hits your blood stream but… I don’t doubt the child died of alcohol poisoning but the level doesn’t seem possible. I can’t imagine the taste of it alone would start the child vomiting. And unless the bottle was chugged in one go I would expect vomiting to occur long before such a level was achieved. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/18 "2022-04-26T02:06:13Z")
People Suck ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/19 "2022-04-26T02:28:17Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > It doesn’t pass the sniff test for me, either. I suspect there’s more to it than that. According to this you’d be unconscious at .40. I realize there’s a delayed effect between the moment you drink it and the time it hits your blood stream but… I think this might be a case where the child’s small size factors in. The average 4-year-old weighs 40 pounds. I put that in a blood-alcohol calculator, and a single shot was enough for 0.125% BAC. That means the difference between 0.40 and 0.68 is only about three ounces. Regardless of the exact numbers, it’s a monstrous thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298/20 "2022-04-26T02:43:36Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > You are allowed so many “free” articles before you get blocked Interesting. I’ve been clicking all around that site for a while and not gotten cut off yet. I guess they have a weak paywall and I have really good adblockers? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grandmother-forces-4-year-old-to-drink-whiskey-until-she-dies-with-her-mother-watching-2022-04-22/963298.md?page=2)