This is the exception.
A man was smoking dope with his partner and suddenly remembered he’d left his ten month old foster child in the car. I’m not sure but it certainly seemed to me that it’s quite possible that the baby went on the dope run with the man.
Seth Jackson, 29, is charged with first-degree murder in the July 24 death in Wichita. No charges have been filed against his partner.
Police say the girl was inside the car with the windows up for more than two hours. It was around 90 degrees outside. An autopsy showed she died of hyperthermia due to heat exposure.
The affidavit says Jackson’s partner told police that Jackson called that day to let him know he would be picking the 10-month-old up from the baby sitter after taking their 5-year-old adopted child to a doctor’s appointment. Jackson told police that when he arrived home, he locked the car and went inside with his 5-year-old and the pizza.
Jackson’s partner said he and Jackson watched one and a half episodes of “Games of Thrones” and smoked marijuana Jackson had picked up that day, according to the affidavit. The partner told police Jackson realized he had left the 10-month-old outside in the car when he heard a child crying on the TV show.
Like I said, I’m not normally for charging parents with murder for an honest mistake that they will probably drive themselves crazy over the rest of their lives. But you take the baby with you to buy drugs and then forget about the baby because you’re getting high. Then it’s kind of on you.
This kind of thing happens dozens of times per year. The leaving the baby part, not the marijuana part. I can’t help but think that maybe instead of laws demanding we put babies in rear facing seats in the back we do something to make it easier to disable air bags in the front. I think that would save a lot of children.
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