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Title: *Updated: Cops, Media Applaud Local Busybody for Bravely Harassing Dad Who Briefly Left Kid Alone
Source:
Reason
URL Source: http://reason.com/blog/2015/06/03/c ... -applaud-local-busybody-for-br
Published: Jun 3, 2015
Author: Lenore Skenazy
Post Date: 2015-06-03 21:29:22 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 1471
Comments: 16
Mark Herrmann didn’t choose to be a hero. No, no, he was just minding his own business when he noticed that a child’s life was in mortal danger. He acted decisively—ensuring the child’s safety, and guaranteeing a police investigation into the negligent parent’s actions. Thanks to the video of the encounter he filmed and posted to Facebook, the whole world shall know of his bravery. The child he saved was out of his father's sight for...uh...well, never. But still! The father did leave the child in his truck, in a carseat, with the windows down and engine running, while he got out to drop something off in front of a store. He was gone for two, possibly three minutes, walking to and from the truck. Gracious, how could any child survive that kind of depraved neglect? Let's hear it for the Kentucky police who have decided to open an investigation into this clear case of abandonment. As we have been told by public service announcements like this, even a moment unattended in a car is too long! No child is safe for a single, super-scary second. Neither are parents. For in that micro-moment, hero Herrmann noticed the truck, whipped out his phone and videotaped the child, who was playing with an electronic device and indicated he was fine when Herrmann asked him about his welfare. When the dad came back, Herrmann let him have it, pointing out that, "You know if I was a bad guy, I coulda probably drove off with this guy." The dad pointed out, "I was right there at the door.... He wasn't out of my eyesight." But still. "Worst-first" thinkers don't care about what is likely to happen. All that matters is what a bystander, cop, court, or CPS official imagines could happen. And since Herrmann imagined himself driving off with the kid, dad basically left his son to be kidnapped by a stranger. And while that happens to be pretty much the rarest crime of all, it is a popular one in the minds of folks like Herrmann, and the folks who applauded him on his Facebook page. As one wrote: "You told that meth-head! Nicely done!" For its part, the reporter for WCPO News immediately confused the issue by piling on statistics about how quickly a child in a car can die of hyperthermia. Except not in a car with the windows open. And not in two minutes. The reporter added that, "606 children have died between 1998 - 2013 due to heat related circumstances," including 18 who were left in the car intentionally. Which means that roughly one child a year dies when left intentionally in a car. Out of 20 million children under the age of 5 in America. So yes, it makes sense to take precautions like, say, keeping the windows rolled down. Ahem. But the chances are 1 in 7,300,000,000 (20 million kids x 365 days) that hero Herrmann was witnessing anything dangerous at all. But still. Billion-to-one odds be damned. Circumstances be damned. Reality be damned. Time for the state to investigate this dangerous dad and salute a true hero. *Update:Police have arrested the dad, Nathaniel Galloway. He is charged with "endangering the welfare of a child." Unbelievable. 
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 16.
#2. To: Deckard, Gatlin (#0)
Hey, the truck was out in front of a hardware store!
Maybe... So, can we agree that no KID is safe – anywhere he is left in a vehicle with the engine running?
Yes. Never did that with my kids, and would never have considered doing so.
" can we agree that no KID is safe – anywhere he is left in a vehicle with the engine running? " Yes. Never did that with my kids, and would never have considered doing so. It is a dumb thing to do.
I'll fess up - Dad was loading the Olds Cutlass station wagon I hopped into the driver's seat, popped it into drive, moved the Much, much worse things happened to my Dads '74 Jeep Wagoneer -
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How easy would it have been for a maniac to go into
the store, purchase a chainsaw, and massacre the kid?
Really easy, right? No one is safe - Anywhere!
#3. To: Chuck_Wagon, Deckard (#2)
No one is safe - Anywhere!
Georgia police are searching for a suspect who stole a car with a 9-month-old baby inside. Her father left the vehicle unattended to pick up a pizza.
Police in Dekalb County were notified at 9:45 p.m. Saturday a 2004 Nissan Maxima was stolen in a parking lot outside a Little Caesars with the baby named Brittney inside.
Her father left the car unlocked and the engine running as he went in to pick up his order.
Read the remainder of the story here.
#4. To: Gatlin (#3)
" can we agree that no KID is safe – anywhere he is left in a vehicle with the engine running? "
#7. To: Stoner, Deckard, Chuck_Wagon, patriot wes (#4)
A parent invites substantial peril when leaving a child alone in a motor vehicle.
Bad things can happen….bad things have happened.
#16. To: Gatlin (#7)
" can we agree that no KID is safe – anywhere he is left in a vehicle with the engine running? "
for our fishing trip to the Jersey shore. He forgot a few
things - he ran back into the garage. And took longer than
I thought he would.
wagon a couple of feet, stopped, put it back into park,
hopped back into the passenger seat - and that was it.
Nothing 'bad' happened. I was ten.
but that was after I got my driver's license - and I
ultimately paid for the new exhaust system on the thing.
A little off-roading mishap, you see... Nothing serious.
Replies to Comment # 16.
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