Dad accused of leaving tot in car

Dad accused of leaving tot in car during movie faces abuse charge

Officers found the 2-year-old soaked with sweat and crying after sitting in 87 degree heat


A man police say left his 2-year-old son in his car to watch a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight" was charged Tuesday with child abuse.
David Farnham, 23, was charged with the class A misdemeanor in 3rd District Court. Police say he left his son, Justin, in his parked car Saturday night at the Century 16 Theaters, 125 E. 3300 South in South Salt Lake.
After a movie patron called police, officers found Justin around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday sitting in his car seat, crying and sweating, according to court documents.
Farnham, of Salt Lake City, left the child in the car with the windows rolled up "so the child could not be taken out," according to a jail booking statement. The temperature inside the vehicle was 87 degrees, the statement said.
Police stopped the movie showing to arrest Farnham, who told police that he left his son in the car for more than two hours while he watched a movie because Justin was asleep, according to court documents.
Farnham is being held at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on $20,000 bail.
Justin, who was thirsty but reported in good condition, was released to his mother, said detective Gary Keller, of the South Salt Lake Police Department.


http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9967045

Good God!!
Things like this piss me off more than words can say, so I'd better shut up before I say too much!!

About 5 years ago two kids were left in a van while their dad went arrowhead hunting on the plains. He returned to find both dead, with signs of the agony that they went through while in there. Cried for days over that. Never forgot it. How can people do these things to children.

some people were not meant to have the honour of being called a parent.

Bulldog1401 said:

About 5 years ago two kids were left in a van while their dad went arrowhead hunting on the plains. He returned to find both dead, with signs of the agony that they went through while in there. Cried for days over that. Never forgot it. How can people do these things to children.

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There are stories that affected me like this too.
It's sad to me that kids are so innocent and trusting, and they love their parental abuser to the death.

What really pisses me of is people like this have many kids, while people that really want a child can't have one, and have trouble even adopting.

urednecku said:

...while people that really want a child can't have one, and have trouble even adopting.

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You wouldn't believe everything you have to go through to adopt that other parents don't have to do... parenting classes, CPR certification, fire inspection, well water testing, etc.

I can't picture future parents-to-be having a conversation like this--
"Honey, let's try to conceive a baby tonight, but first we better make sure our fire extinguishers and escape route plan are hanging on the wall."

Funny, reading the title of the thread, I was actually going to come to the defense of the father thinking that he may of had a "brain fart", which anyone can have, some with more serious ramifications than others.

However...

Leaving a child in the car so you can go to a movie is not one of them.

I can't help but wonder how much responsibility the mother has.

It happened here last week.

Washington Post



[SIZE=+2]Va. Toddler Dies After Father Leaves Him in SUV[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]By Michael Laris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 10, 2008; B01[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
A consulting company manager left his newly adopted son sitting in a sport-utility vehicle in a Herndon parking lot for much of the day Tuesday, killing the 21-month-old child, police said yesterday.

The boy, Chase, was adopted three months ago from Russia, police said.

Miles Harrison, 49, of Purcellville was charged yesterday with manslaughter. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Dave Zorger, owner of Herndon-based Project Solutions Group, where Harrison is managing director, said someone went to the front desk at the end of the day Tuesday and told the receptionists about seeing something in a GMC Yukon with tinted windows parked outside.

"They said, 'Hey, Miles, is there something in your car?' and he went running outside," Zorger said.

Herndon Police Chief Toussaint E. Summers Jr. said Harrison was supposed to take Chase to day care. Instead, Harrison drove to work, and Chase sat in the SUV outside the building, in the 500 block of Herndon Parkway, for "at least several hours," Summers said. Exactly how long remains unclear. The high temperature Tuesday was about 90 degrees.

Zorger said Harrison arrived at work at the real estate consulting firm "sometime in the morning," and police said they received an emergency call about 5 p.m. that someone was performing CPR on an unresponsive child.

Summers said authorities think the manslaughter charge is appropriate. The investigation is continuing, he said.

"You can't leave a kid unattended," he said.

Summers would not say what investigators think happened. "Manslaughter is simply the unlawful killing without malice," Summers said. "It's really hard to know what was going on in Miles Harrison's mind at that point."

Zorger said he did not know whether some distraction might have contributed to the boy's death.

"I wish I knew the answer to those questions. Those are the same things I'm asking myself," Zorger said.

John Alexander Gomez, who works for a financial firm in the same green-and-gray building in the Herndon office park, said he was leaving for the day when he saw paramedics put the child's limp body in a white bag.

"That's a terrible death . . . with the heat. When I got in my car at 1, my steering wheel, you couldn't touch it," Gomez said. "To me, that's proof right there. You can't do too many things at once."

Evelyn Rivas, who works in the same building and has a 6-year-old daughter, said it was unthinkable that she would be in Harrison's situation. "I have a kid, and I don't think I'd forget they were in the car," Rivas said. "It seems to me a lot of people do it. It doesn't make sense."

Harrison was taken to a medical facility after rushing out to the child, and he was to be taken into custody there yesterday, Summers said.

urednecku said:

What really pisses me of is people like this have many kids, while people that really want a child can't have one, and have trouble even adopting.

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Ain't it the truth? We considered adopting, several years ago. Even though we'd have been pretty good parents, I think, who knows what the powers that be would think?
I cannot fathom the idiocy of someone leaving a child in a car like that! Manslaughter charges almost don't seem enough.

Theres no doubt that the safest place for a child in a car seat is in the center of the back seat. But it takes them out of the line of sight of the driver. If he had reached for his coffee or cell phone or something while getting out for work, he might have seen the child, and thought "oh crap, I forgot to stop at daycare" and maybe this wouldn't have happened. I don't have a solution for that situation. I value my children above anything else in life, So I never had that problem.

AndyM said:

You wouldn't believe everything you have to go through to adopt that other parents don't have to do... parenting classes, CPR certification, fire inspection, well water testing, etc.

I can't picture future parents-to-be having a conversation like this--
"Honey, let's try to conceive a baby tonight, but first we better make sure our fire extinguishers and escape route plan are hanging on the wall."

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Andy, I think you and I have very similar stories, and I'm sure that you agree with me when I say that after 5 years and nearly $100K (thank $DIETY for insurance!), there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING else that I think of other than my son when I am around him. There is no such thing as "forgetting he is in the back seat" when I go to work.

jim slagle said:

It happened here last week.

Washington Post
[SIZE=+2]Va. Toddler Dies After Father Leaves Him in SUV[/SIZE]

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How do you forget that long? The baby would have to cross his mind at some point.

Bulldog1401 said:

Theres no doubt that the safest place for a child in a car seat is in the center of the back seat. But it takes them out of the line of sight of the driver. If he had reached for his coffee or cell phone or something while getting out for work, he might have seen the child, and thought "oh crap, I forgot to stop at daycare" and maybe this wouldn't have happened. I don't have a solution for that situation. I value my children above anything else in life, So I never had that problem.

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Isn't center of the rear seat directly inline with the rear view mirror? There's no excuse for not knowing your child is with you. Who put him in the car seat?

dzalphakilo said:

Funny, reading the title of the thread, I was actually going to come to the defense of the father thinking that he may of had a "brain fart", which anyone can have, some with more serious ramifications than others.

However...

Leaving a child in the car so you can go to a movie is not one of them.

I can't help but wonder how much responsibility the mother has.

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How does a "brain fart" excuse killing your child? The only responsibility the mother could possibly have was marrying this idiot in the first place. How about personal responsibility? Sorry for the rant, but trying to blame someone else for your mistakes just doesn't cut it with me.

pirate_girl said:

Good God!!
Things like this piss me off more than words can say, so I'd better shut up before I say too much!!

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nothing you could say would be as low as this scum ball is

Today we responded to a 1 yr. child who drowned in the bath tub. The father filled the tub with about 6 inches of water and left his 1 yr. old daughter in the bath tub alone. when he returned to check on the child alittle while later the child had drowned. the father was able to preform cpr and the child started breathing again. the last i heard the child will mostly make a full recovery. the father is being charged with child abuse. some people just amaze me with their stuipidy.

mtwaterguy said:

How does a "brain fart" excuse killing your child? The only responsibility the mother could possibly have was marrying this idiot in the first place. How about personal responsibility? Sorry for the rant, but trying to blame someone else for your mistakes just doesn't cut it with me.

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Nothing will "excuse" you from killing your child accidently.

However, "normal average" people can make stupid mistakes everyday, however, normal stupid mistakes usually don't result in a death.

There are a lot of stupid people in this world, however, not all "stupid mistakes" are made by stupid people.

Bottom line, if the person cared about their child, no jail time can or could put them in the personal hell that they will put themselves through knowing that their lapse in judement caused a death. By the same token, if they don't care, no amount of jail time can make them realize what they really have done.

As I mentioned, the guy in question per this thread is an idiot. Not all people who accidently kill their children are idiots.

Heck, go hang out at your local department of social services and see what kind of people have children and why those people are there to begin with.

mtwaterguy said:

Isn't center of the rear seat directly inline with the rear view mirror? There's no excuse for not knowing your child is with you. Who put him in the car seat?

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Yes it is. And if you happen to glance in the rearview mirror prior to exiting the vehicle, you would catch that. But if you are looking elsewhere.....

This happened in Minnesota a few years back where the husband who never takes the kid to daycare; had to do it this one time and forgot the child was in the back seat. If I remember right the child did not make it.

HOW CAN A PARENT FORGET ABOUT A CHILD?

pirate_girl said:

HOW CAN A PARENT FORGET ABOUT A CHILD?

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I don't know, but it happens every summer, way too many times.

I can't ( and won't even try) to make an excuse for it, but with the greed that runs rampant in our society today (just look at fuel prices for example) people have to push so hard to make a decent living and support their families that they loose track of what is important.

urednecku said:

What really pisses me of is people like this have many kids, while people that really want a child can't have one, and have trouble even adopting.

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YES!!! Stories like this haunt me...about 2 years ago there was an infant left by a creek not far from where rback and I live...I don't care how sad, upset...WHATEVER...you are -take the baby to a hospital..heck bring them to my house I won't ask a single question
Nothing makes me more angry than stories like this