With my younger sister!

So now the parents are being charged with involuntary manslaughter?

Geez Louise...

While allowed to roam freely in the great outdoors.

Toys, bicycles, walking to school, games in gym class, etc.

but it was normal then for a 10-year-old to babysit younger children.

I don't think it's "manslaughter" here. There are people who leave guns around for their toddlers to shoot who haven't been charged with that.

4 of them at $1.00 an hour!
This was the early 1980s.

I can barely take care of one grandchild for 2 hours now.

.... it would be Oopsy daisy - the father was just practicing his 2nd Ammendment Rights as spelled out in the US Constitution.

No harm, no fail, and no fault.
Let's just forget it.

I dislike seeing parents charged with crimes for parenting mistakes. We all make mistakes and misjudgments, and take slight risks for children to grow in independence. Most of the time we are lucky it turns out okay. Unless there was gross negligence or criminal intent, the parents should be left to suffer their personal hell in peace.

So kids don't have to cross 4 lanes of traffic to get to and fro stores. Like the city planners, maybe, charge them.

my mother had me walk by myself to Kindergarten, five blocks from home.

Also, back then, if your dog ran away, you’d call the Police to find him/her.

On the way home I knew to turn right at the pink house, but one weekend they painted the house, and I got terribly lost. My older brother had to get on his bike and come find me. Letting a little kid (especially a female) be alone like that wouldn't fly today.

My mom was in her late stage of a pregnancy and had a year-old too. I’d walk the four blocks, after she would call them with her order. I’d walk past a grade school and the kids in the playground seemed so large to me.
One day I mentioned it to my dad t and he told her to stop. It was very disappointing, since my mom would always order a pint of ice cream and we’d share it when I got home.

I hope the judge throws this out.

Given that they had to cross a busy 4 lane highway, they absolutely should not have given the kids permission. Not to mention, it seems they might not have walked it with the kids in the past making it clear that they could cross only in the crosswalk if they thought they would ever let the kids walk. (I wouldn't.)

They are now grieving for one son and dealing with the trauma this has inflicted on the other son. Dealing with charges on top of all of this almost seems cruel.

if the parents were white.

I feel terrible for them. Losing a child is brutal and the other boy will always wonder if he could have stopped it somehow.

Charging them is adding to the tragedy and their grief.

My kids walked places themselves when they were that age, most kids do. Heck, I was a feral Gen X kid. By 5 I was pretty much self-sufficient and no one ever knew where I was! I remember hearing someone calling me...it was my grandma, she had been looking for me for over an hour. I was reading in my room! (I was in....fifth or sixth grade)

of racism involved.

Or is it a county where they are hyper about this kind of thing.

Both parents are in jail right now, which is not good for the other child.

This was a tragic accident, not a criminal matter. Neither should be imprisoned or charged.

help him through this.

Should the kids have been crossing in the middle of the block? Nope, but kids and adults do that all the time.

I remember driver's ed....way back in the 80's and we were taught that if you hit someone or something while driving that was on YOU. Situational awareness. Your eyes should be on the road and be ready for anything.

I'm mystified as to why the driver isn't being held responsible at all.

Their neglect has left him with a dead brother and the guilt he'll carry the rest of his life for not being able to save him.....when that should have never been put on him in the first place.

Suggesting parent who let their kid die should be absolved from responsibility because of feels.

If you are, has your kid never done anything without you right there before adulthood?

It makes them feel that their child could never suffer this fate because of their superior parenting.

When in reality it could happen to any of us. Ever lost your child in a department store? I know I have! They could have been kidnapped and killed. But we were lucky and they were just in the next aisle.

thought the person I was replying to was someone else! Oops. Long day.

My middle one was my runner. He liked to hide in clothing racks. Once we figured that out, he was easier to find.

He was also the one who, at the zoo, was a foot away from me at age 3, he took off after some free-roaming peacocks and then, went under a fence faster than I could even stand up! A hand shot out from behind a bush and a kind man who was trimming the bushes grabbed him and asked if he was mine!

He said he had a runner too.

None of us are perfect parents. Most of us never have a tragedy like this and we are lucky for that.

It wasn't when I ran to the corner store at age 5.

I walked 7 blocks to school by myself as a six year old first grader after the first week once I showed my Mom I could because she and Dad had to work. Mostly residential blocks, true, but but I had to cross the main four lane drag going through Santa Maria at the light like a Big Girl of course.
I was going to the store myself to pick up small items like milk or a bag of potatoes, or fruit by the time I was eight. My parents would leave an envelope with a dollar or two and a list for when I came back from school.
This was in 1965, 1967. And there were plenty of people driving like fools back then, too.
It depends on the kid. My oldest grandchild could be trusted to cross a street by the time she was five (and she has ADHD!), while my youngest grandchild is still distracted by butterflies and dead leaves being blown down the road at nine (and she doesn't have ADHD, so far as we can tell, just lives in her own bubble).

If the kid was four and by himself, I might agree with you. Might. A four year old probably needs to be monitored, they're still toddlers. By five or six, most kids are aware enough of their surroundings they don't need to be chaperoned everywhere.

Parental neglect is wilfully going on a two day bender or hareing off for a weekend to go to Vegas and play slots - leaving young kids alone without enough food, access to money, or making arrangements for someone who could watch out for them.
I helped the kidlet's friend parents as a backstop, like other parents in my neighborhood did while I was growing up. I was the "K's Stepmom", and Laz was "K's Dad" - who could be depended on to feed and watch over her friends when their Mom or Dad had to go out of town for a job or interview, because my parents had been there. Life happens. Accidents happen.

Not being a Helicopter Parent is not Parental Neglect.

I agree with you. That said, all kids are different and may have different needs - as you point out.

Not usually upper-middle or upper-class kids, because they simply are coddled and not allowed to do this kind of thing.

The husband is Black and the wife is White – I’m sure that triggers all sorts of knee-jerk reactions in a small town in the south.

So he was there with someone who was doing the right thing even they were kids.

It's not clear at all that the outcome would have been any different if the parents were there.

Charging the parents seems to be a real stretch, and beyond cruel.

Edited to add that I think this is a horrible thing to do to the parents, who have suffered enough with the loss of their child. That's just cruel. Why don't they go after some real criminals?

I believe in holding negligent parents responsible, but this wasn't a case of negligence. It was a tragic accident.

And $1.5 million bond? That's outrageously excessive.

But I guess they are hardened criminals who pose a flight risk and danger to the community. Do I really need the for that?

Did the parent have a duty to supervise?

Yes.

Did they have knowledge that there was a busy 4 lane that would need to be crossed?

Yes.

Did their decision to allow the kids to travel, unsupervised, across the 4 lane lead to the 7 year old's death?

Yes.



Sorry, but justice isn't served just because somebody is going to feel bad about the crime. A kid died because a parent neglected their responsibility. Just because all of your parents were equally as irresponsible and you didn't die doesn't change anything.

brother die on his watch, but his parents were sent away because of it as well?

Who died as a direct result of neglect.l from their parents.

or are parents allowed to determine age appropriate activity - slightly outside arms reach?

'walking two blocks to meet dad .... '

Unsupervised, you mean?

A jury will get to decide if that is a reasonable activity to allow a 7 and q0 year old to do without supervision.

most children this age. And, in any event - isn't it generally for the parents to decide the abilities and responsibilities appropriate to age and situation? Accidents happen. (tragically) But, this was a case of neither misjudgment or neglect.

It's up to a jury to decide if a reasonable person would make that choice.

But the fact that charges were ever brought in this regard - points to a lack of judgement - and an overall tendency toward hyper-criticism, 'blame game' - and unreasonable (and unhealthy) expectation on modern 'parenting'.

There's a dead kid. I find the level of criticism very appropriate.

I think we do

Hoo boy. Irony just died with that comment. SMH. 🙄

Awful post.
Black & white thinking unbecoming to a liberal.

Is a pillar of liberalism

If you think laws should be applied unequally, then you are not a liberal at all.

This law is the law. They will get a defense and an opportunity to make their case to a jury. Not bringing charges would be a misapplication of justice.

And stubbornly obstinate.

But I suspect you would support prosecution of a parent who left a gun accessible, and it was used in a school shooting.


That is equivalent to letting small children travel through traffic unsupervised. Neither are done with expectation of causing harm, but both do.

Arresting and charging them is bad enough -- but why on earth is the bond that high??? And where is the 10 year old brother while his parents are sitting in jail??? Even if he's with other family, and not foster care, he is in need of his parents right now. This has got to be so traumatizing for all of them.

I hope a go fund me gets started to get them a very good lawyer. All they have right now is a court appointed attorney, who was apparently unable to even get the ridiculously high bond reduced.

I have an immature 9 year old granddaughter who always was a runner since she could toddle, and pretty much unaware of what is going on around her.
She will regularly walk into the street when we're on the sidewalk if she focuses on something in the street -or across the street - without notice or care to look around to see if it's safe. I can't always stop her " in time", she's suddenly skipping off the sidewalk to get a closer look.
And she's nine.
As a side, I used to walk to first grade by myself when I was six, and later pick my then four year old brother from daycare when I was nine. In both instances, I crossed several major, busy four lane city streets with no incident, because I could be trusted to look both ways and gauge traffic speeds by the time I was six. Some kids couldn't, even back then. But no one blamed the parents, they blamed the drivers.

From what it appears in the article, Mom probably couldn't have stopped the kid in time either. And still would have been charged with neglect or inattention Sad situation all around.

Because the prosecutor doesn’t have any

What have we come to?

I walked four blocks to school and home by myself from my 2nd day in kindergarten.

This is one of the worst aspects of modern life. And now they're making it illegal to not be a helicopter parent!

If that same person would of run over a cop they would be jailed

I was taught if a driver hits a pedestrian they were liable

The person should not be charged. Period.

Sometimes awful things happen and nobody is to blame.

Must have been white ... and upper middle class. Am I right?

That bail is absolutely ridiculous and fucking deliberately cruel.

The problem seems to be that he was on the phone with his dad at the time and wasn't paying attention to the younger brother.

There should be no case against the mother for negligence.

Putting the 10-year-old in charge of the 7-year-old's safety? That quite a heavy responsibility to expect of a 10-year-old!

we lived in an affluent neighborhood in south Florida, and I was the go-to babysitter for the neighborhood kids. No one thought it was strange....I was smart and mature for my age.

and the state (executive) does damage to the law by bring charges in cases that abridge common sense application.

Children sometimes make poor decisions, with (occasional) unfortunate result - but that does not translate into a requirement that they must be under 24 hours supervision and/or lock-down. The expectation is neither reasonable - nor really even healthy.

No excuse for this.

Color of skin, maybe?

Got to fill up those private prisons.

Telling you that you have to watch your kids and not let them die.

I walked across a four lane road in Santa Ana, CA to a supermarket. Apparently I knew enough about traffic lights to cross at the cross walk safely and entered the store. A store clerk saw me waking around alone to grab me and called the police. The cop took me around the local neighborhood until they found my mom. She was mortified. She had five kids and thought I was still playing in the back yard.

I don't know how I survived my child hood.

They were jaywalking, they tried crossing between crosswalks, so the 10 year old wasn't doing what he was supposed to do. It was a busy road that didn't seem safe for two young kids to be crossing.

Given that, I still don't think the parents should be charged, but I think there might be more to this and will wait to see. Perhaps the parents have had issues with the law before and there's reason to think they were being irresponsible.

Sounds like Gastonia PD is taking helicopter parenting to the next (on this timeline) normal level of helicopter policing.

Unless there's more to the story.

We went with them the first week, but had to count on their common sense after that. Several of their classmates who lived near us did the same. And that was in Germany, where most drivers only know two gears: reverse and floor it.

But accidents such as this one here are still rare here. Children learn early how their parents drive.

so were my cousins.

Life was just so much freer back then.

Did whatever I wanted... from like age 8-9, played in cornfields, went crappie fishing, swimming, running through the forest setting off trappers traps...

Drank dirty water, played in mud...

That's how you build an immune system not like these "bubble children" nowadays.

Though Gastonia, NC is anything but rural; it has long since been swallowed up by exploding Charlotte traffic. And yeah, we were downright feral in my neighborhood in the 70's, but things seemed different then. Now it seems like it's every man for himself in traffic, never-mind how dangerous it is for pedestrians, 2-wheeled vehicles, etc.

An interesting related family anecdote from Asheville, NC. Apparently the five siblings on my father's side (the first boomers, all gone now), were once six in number. The story I have always heard is that I would have had another uncle, but he was killed by a car when my grandfather sent him to walk to the store for cigarettes, probably some time in the 40's. I never heard specific details other than his name was Roger. I never heard of any consequences, though I can't imagine the guilt and self-torment my grandparents must have gone through. My own youngest son, profoundly ADD, nearly got hit when he tried to dash out in front of an oncoming car when he was a little tyke. Thankfully I snatched him back by the scruff just in time. I always say that every boy who makes it to 30 is a walking miracle...

7 years old, particularly when accompanied by a ten year old, is old enough to walk a few blocks home by themself.

The elder kid's phone, would they have made it to the crossing?

But at 10 years old, I was capable of walking 2 blocks to the store with my younger sister. Accidents happen, even with grown adults who get hit and killed all the time.

We lost two of them at SeaWorld, at different times, on the same day. They have a great system, your kid's picture gets broadcast to staff and they find them fast.

The cops brought the middle one back a few times, never malicious behavior. Just kids being stupid. And yes, they were running around town unsupervised at these ages. And yes, they could have been killed by any of the freight trains that run through town.

But the stupidest thing I ever did was let a disinterested OB-Gyn around my wife while in labor. Unreachable when things went bad. We never got to bring our daughter home.

So fuck these fascists, shit happens. There is no greater punishment than the loss of a child.

a damn shame anyway.