GUILTY NY - Phoenix & Luna Rodriguez, 1, twins, die in hot car, Bronx, 26 July 2019 *No jail*

[gitana1]

Admittedly, I am absolutely ENRAGED that these two babies cooked to death in a hot car while on Dad's watch. It is unconscionable when any child is overlooked and left in a car or van to suffer such a long HORRIBLE death. No, I don't and won't cut ANY slack for whomever is responsible. EVER. These children had NO choice. THEY have paid the ultimate price, no one else.

Interesting that we never hear about babies being left in cold cars more than 8 hours to freeze to death.

It happens. Not at all as much because summer child care routines are usually a change at the exact time that temps soar, but when it's super cold, it's usually at a time when routines aren't new - they've been established since the fall:

"[T]here are noted instances of a child dying during each calendar month. The most that ever happened in November were three in 2006; It happened one time each in December 2009 and 2012. The only recorded instance of a kid-left-in-the-car death in January was in 2016, when a Georgia grandmother purposely left her baby grandson in her vehicle for more than five hours while she visited with friends. The 13-month-old ultimately died of hypothermia in the car, which had been left in direct sunlight with the heat cranked up against the outside temperature of 53 degrees."
How Many Children Die In Cars In Winter Compared To Summer? It's A Year-Round Concern

I bet babies are naturally more awake too when they go from a warm house to a freezing outside and then car that needs time to warm up.

 

[Catmommy]

It mitigates sentences though and often results in different charges than otherwise.

Because I have seen this as well, I agree with you.

 

[mickey2942]

Honestly, if I ever see a baby or a pet in a hot car, I am calling the police.

I have empathy for this family. And it is definitely something for people to discuss. My daughter has ADHD, she literally forgets everything. I wonder if this parent has ever been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, and if that could be a mitigating factor in sentencing. ADD is considered a "disability".

 

[MsFacetious]

There have been cases in the winter, Emma Mcafee this year.
The cases I've seen before in the winter didn't freeze to death. They roasted because the parent left the heat on full blast for hours.

 

[Trident]

Honestly, if I ever see a baby or a pet in a hot car, I am calling the police.

I have empathy for this family. And it is definitely something for people to discuss. My daughter has ADHD, she literally forgets everything. I wonder if this parent has ever been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, and if that could be a mitigating factor in sentencing. ADD is considered a "disability".

Please do call the police, you may save a life.

 

[MsFacetious]

This covers a lot of the issues people have been worried about with an alert system! I'm pretty impressed. No it's not perfect but it's pretty good.

Clever Elly

 

[mickey2942]

I wonder what types of cars folks have who leave kids in the backseat. I have a very small Honda. Literally, it is impossible to not see the backseat, when you leave the car. You are practically in the backseat!
Honda Fit.

But, if these folks have some sort of large, SUV, with custom blacked out windows, like a fancy Cadillac SUV, where the back seat is way back there...that may also be part of the problem.

 

[MsFacetious]

This covers a lot of the issues people have been worried about with an alert system! I'm pretty impressed. No it's not perfect but it's pretty good.

Clever Elly

@Laughing here is your new baby shower gift!

 

[Laughing]

I agree with this.

And also, your post made me think of something.

In theory, discounting any intentional harm situations, these episodes of forgetting the baby in the rear-facing, back-seat carseats, must be happening randomly throughout the year. I mean, unless the heat is part of what triggers the forgetting, it must sometimes happen in cool or cold weather too. Only then, the child survives because the car doesn't get so hot.

Parents must just never mention those incidents -- although I would think they would startle parents into greater diligence by seeing that they are vulnerable and they just caught a lucky break that it wasn't hot.

Or do people think this only happens in warm or hot weather?

BBM

January, in Boston:

Growing trend: Children left unattended in cars at casinos

January, in Baltimore

Toddler Left in Freezing Cold Car for Stomach-Turning Amount of Time

Both casinos, perhaps addiction is a factor....

JMHO YMMV

 

[Laughing]

@Laughing here is your new baby shower gift!

Thanks!!! Will probably wrap it in a blankie....

 

[MsFacetious]

Thanks!!! Will probably wrap it in a blankie....

Or a cute stuffed animal to go in the front seat too. Just be prepared for people to get offended that you think they NEED this because THEY would never forget their child....

 

[Inthedetails]

Or a cute stuffed animal to go in the front seat too. Just be prepared for people to get offended that you think they NEED this because THEY would never forget their child....

Ain't that the truth.

jmo

 

[Gardenista]

Father calls wife from car, asks her to pick up twin babies from daycare — but they were dead in the backseat

 

[MsFacetious]

“He made a phone call as he was leaving the hospital asking his wife to pick up the kids at day care,” a law enforcement source told the news outlet. “He was supposed to pick up a uniform for his reserve duty. He truly believed they were at the day care.”

------------------------------------------------------

Authorities appear to believe that the deaths of his children were a tragic accident.

Father calls wife from car, asks her to pick up twin babies from daycare — but they were dead in the backseat

I hope he wasn't still on the phone with his wife when he made the discovery.
Also, I hate this headline.

 

[Baciagalupo]

Guilt is the most destructive feeling there is. I can’t see him recovering from this.

 

[epiphany]

<snip> The car seats were “rear facing.”

Rodriguez normally would have carried his 1-year-old son, Phoenix, and daughter, Luna, in their car seats into the day care.

<snip> Juan Rodriguez is a military reservist who told law enforcement he had done a tour in Kuwait and Iraq.

“He counsels guys who come back,” the source noted about Rodriguez’ work at the VA hospital.

Rodriguez himself was apparently not taking any medication at the time of the tragedy.

Twins’ dad asked wife to pick up babies as he left work before finding their bodies in hot car

 

[epiphany]

Father due in Bronx court after twins' hot car death

<snip> Thursday, we will learn if Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark will take this case to a grand jury.

Father due in Bronx court after twins' hot car death

 

[Gardenista]

<snip> The car seats were “rear facing.”

Rodriguez normally would have carried his 1-year-old son, Phoenix, and daughter, Luna, in their car seats into the day care.

<snip> Juan Rodriguez is a military reservist who told law enforcement he had done a tour in Kuwait and Iraq.

“He counsels guys who come back,” the source noted about Rodriguez’ work at the VA hospital.

Rodriguez himself was apparently not taking any medication at the time of the tragedy.

Twins’ dad asked wife to pick up babies as he left work before finding their bodies in hot car

I'm not buying what he is trying to sell. From your link:

When the 39-year-old dad made the left turn out of the hospital parking lot onto Kingsbridge Road, he drove two blocks and that’s when “he saw the seats in the back,” according to the source.

Rodriguez normally would have carried his 1-year-old son, Phoenix, and daughter, Luna, in their car seats into the day care.

 

[Trident]

I'm not buying what he is trying to sell. From your link:

When the 39-year-old dad made the left turn out of the hospital parking lot onto Kingsbridge Road, he drove two blocks and that’s when “he saw the seats in the back,” according to the source.

Rodriguez normally would have carried his 1-year-old son, Phoenix, and daughter, Luna, in their car seats into the day care.

It does appear the story is shifting.

 

[mickey2942]

I really want to know what type of car he was driving.

"A four door Honda Accord". Okay. Now, I wonder if the police did a toxicology test, if Mr. Rodriguez had been using any drugs. Even 9 hours after the fact, there would have been some indication?

It would be interesting if there was a study done on all "Hot car deaths", to see if there are any specific coorelations between the perpetrators. Even a random sample of the last 100 could possibly identify some specific factors.