Father Charged With Felony Murder in Son's Heat-Stroke Vehicle Death Jun 23, 2014, 8:20 AM By STEVE OSUNSAMI and DAN GOOD A Georgia father has been charged with felony murder in the death of his 22-month-old son after the boy was left inside a mini-SUV for hours on a sweltering day. The manâs family claims it was an honest and tragic mistake. But police disagree â and Justin Ross Harris, 33, now faces heightened charges in Cooperâs heat stroke death, a case that has drawn outrage from people who believe the man has already suffered enough. Harris buckled his son Cooper into his car seat Wednesday before heading to his job as a Web developer at a Home Depot corporate office near Atlanta. On the way, Harris was supposed to drop off his son at daycare. He never did. The temperature outside reached 92 degrees by noon. Hours passed. As Harris was driving home for the night, he noticed his son still in the backseat and pulled into a shopping center parking lot. Witnesses say he rushed to try to save Cooper. âHe kept saying, âWhat have I done? What have I done,ââ witness Dale Hamilton told ABC affiliate station WSB-TV. âHe laid his son on the ground and started doing CPR, trying to resuscitate him. Apparently, the child wasnât responding.â After searching Harrisâs office, police arrested the grieving father and charged him with felony murder and child endangerment. âUntil we more or less run out, a lot of the information that we are having to track down, right now these charges will stand,â Cobb County Police Sgt. Dana Pierce said. The arrest has caused outrage, with some saying the father simply made a mistake, although others agree with police. Supporters have raised more than $18,000 for his defense. âThe justice system canât punish Ross worse than he is punishing himself,â one commenter wrote. âIt will only cause more pain for a grieving family,â another wrote. An average of 38 children die across the United States annually after being left in a hot car, with 44 deaths reported nationally last year, according to kidsandcars.org, a national nonprofit devoted to vehicle safety. In Atlanta, more than 22 children have died this way since 1990. Public safety advocates say these are usually accidents and happen to the most loving and protective parents of every color and socioeconomic background. Cooperâs death marked the second vehicle heat stroke death involving a child last week. A Florida man, Steven Lillie, faces aggravated manslaughter charges in the June 16 death of his 9-month-old daughter, Anna Marie. In Harrisâ case, police feel strongly about the murder charge, ABCâs Chief Legal Affairs Anchor Dan Abrams said. âWe donât know exactly what evidence they have, but theyâve executed a search warrant. And itâs not uncommon for computer-related searches to yield information,â Abrams said. âWhatever the evidence is, the authorities believed it warranted bringing charges very quickly.â http://abcnews.go.com/US/father-charged-felony-murder-sons-heat-stroke-vehicle/story?id=24258412
Horrible, tragic story. As a parent I cannot fathom forgetting your child in the backseat. I just can't - not when your entire life revolves around the child's welfare in every act you carry out.
Statistically this usually involves someone not in routine as the parent that takes the child to daycare or whatever. Thus, its not common to hear about such an tragic story involving a parent that routinely takes the child to daycare because it tragic stories like this usually involves the other parent or a different person in charge of care for a child just for the day (e.g. grandparents or another relative). Folks today are more busier than ever and more technology wired than ever while going to work and returning home from work...increasing the chance of "forgetting" something important. Last week, while walking to take my kids to school for their last day of school before summer break... I saw a guy bringing (in a car) his kids to school in which the mom usually does it on her way to work. He jumped out of the car with his son (a kid on one of my kids soccer team) while talking on the cell phone and then he went inside the school...forgetting his toddler daughter was still in the baby seat in the back seat. I thought for sure he was just going to stop at the door and let his son go inside by himself. He didn't and he too went inside the school. After about 5 minutes I walked over to him after seeing him consumed with his blackberry and asked him did he forget something...he said "what" without lifting his head away from his blackberry to talk to me directly. I replied, where's your baby at ? He then looked at me with a puzzle and then suddenly turned around and ran out of the school...came back a few minutes later with his baby daughter. He looked "frantic" and said he was sitting there waiting for a meeting with a teacher...a meeting that was going to last about 30 - 45 minutes. He's lucky nothing wrong happen...he just wasn't use to the routine of taking his son to school and then the baby to daycare. His wife was on a business trip. The younger the child, the chances increases that the child will be forgotten especially if the child is asleep or quiet. http://www.ggweather.com/heat/
I get what you're saying, but it's still no excuse. It's bad parenting. I don't care how preoccupied you are, your child is your first priority. My wife usually watches our child, but occasionally she has an errand to run and I'm in charge. When I do, I set aside everything - meetings, work, whatever, and I become Mr. Mom. I agreed to take responsibility, that's the way it goes. It's also a great time to bond with your child.
Yeah... so "busy" on their stupid iPhones that their children bake in their cars while they post what they ate for lunch on facebook. First things, first!
No reason he couldn't get off his phone for a few minutes to focus on his kid(s). I assume he'd have turned the phone off for the parent-teacher meeting. I'd venture to guess that at least 50% of the time people are on their phones it's not for anything important. Rather, it's texting, posting on Facebook, checking stock quotes or sports scores, email, etc.
I was in Burger King a month ago ... waiting on my order. A guy walks in .. he's on his phone .. the woman behind the counter (probably making $7.50/hour) politely asks "May I take your order sir?" He continues to yack with whoever he's talking to. And this guy is probably in his 50's. I felt like yelling in the guy's ear ... are you here to eat or have a conversation that no one else hears cares to hear? People are truly addicted ....
It's not an excuse. It's an explanation of WHY it happens. Everybody isn't wired the same and everybody don't have the same schedules. Simply, things you would never forget...others will. Things that others will never forget...you will forget. Things that distracts you will not distract others. Things that distracts others will not distract you. Last year while playing baseball with my kids, I saw a neighbor helping her 90 year old grandmother walk down some steep stairs to their backyard family barbecue. Suddenly the neighbor sees black smoke coming out of the barbecue. She yells at her husband to take care of it but she let go of her grandmother's hand...the grandmother lost her balance and fell down the stairs. Ambulance came...old lady broke her hip and leg. Could have been worst for the old lady. The other day I was driving on the freeway and I saw a guy talking on his cell phone, he was too busy to notice that his kid (looked like a 3 year old) in the backseat was tossing paperwork out the back window that was cracked open a few inches. Not a big deal right ? Unless those documents was important to him. Yet, a car behind him panicked a little and moved over to the next lane without putting on the blinkers...almost sideswiping another car. My point is this, one day you will be distracted by something that others are not distracted by, you will forget something that others will not forget, you will put priority on something that's not a priority to others... Hopefully such does not result in injury or death to a love one or stranger. Life just isn't perfect...shit happens.
Unless there are aggravating circumstances, I don't see how this can be a criminal matter. There was clearly no intent to leave the child in the car, so the question becomes, what is the line between gross negligence and criminal negligence? Is this the type of case where the offender is likely to do it again without punishment? Obviously not. Without knowing more, it seems like a case of criminalizing a tragedy. Hasn't the family suffered enough without bankrupting them with a criminal case and possibly sending the father to jail? Seriously.