The word “tragic” must have been created for stories like this one.
A 3-year-old boy died after being left in a day-care van for hours while the temperature was in the 90s, and the driver was charged with manslaughter, police said Tuesday.
Marcellus Johnson, was to have been dropped off at his home in Little Rock around 3 p.m. Monday, but van driver Rancocas Foreman skipped the boy’s stop, went home and parked and locked the van before leaving for his second job, authorities said.
Marcellus’ parents called police after 8 p.m., and around the same time Foreman remembered the boy, went home to check the van and found Marcellus’ body, police spokesman Sgt. Terry Hastings said.
While officers were investigating at the Child Care Center of Arkansas, Foreman arrived and told police “he knows where the child is and the child is not OK,” Hastings said.
Not sure why I’m posting about this, except that it took my breath away and—as a parent—put my heart somewhere in the vicinity of my throat. It’s just a reminder of the tremendous amount of trust we’re placing in someone when we put out children in their care. And even people we trust—and have reason to trust—can make mistakes.
Fortunately, the hubby delivers Parker to daycare every day, and picks him up. Plus, based on the last two years, I have a lot of faith in the people at his daycare. Besides, I’m such a worrier when it comes to Parker’s safety that if he was due home by 3pm and hadn’t appeared by at least 3:10pm, I’d have been frantically calling everyone I could think of who might know where he was.
Not that I blame the parents in this. I’m sure some people will, but I can’t bring myself to do that.
It’s just a sad story all the way around. I’ll definitely be holding Parker extra tight this evening.
I have a 1-year-old nephew named Parker.
I wonder if George Bush would giggle uncomfortably over the fact that that driver was stretched out over more than one job, as he did upon hearing about a woman working three to support her family.
I think the issue is, and Jami hit the nail on the head, the bus driver is working more than one job. Mistakes, tragic mistakes, happen when people are rushed and exhausted.
There is no one to blame here as far as I’m concerned, execpt maybe, the the brainiac who thunk up capitalism.
this is why i try to avoid at all costs these articles…
they hurt my soul to read.
I maybe the voice of dissent here but if the child was due home at 3pm, why on earth did the parents not call police until 8pm?? Owen used to take an afterschool bus twice a week that dropped him home at 4pm. One day he wasn’t home by 4:15 and I was on the phone to the school (closed) the bus company (closed) and a couple of moms until I was able to contact someone that found out that the bus broke down and not yet arrived at the school to pick up the kids. Had I not gotten that mom on the phone, my next call would have been the police!
What were this kids parents doing for *5 hours* before they called the police? It really is tragic that the driver was so rushed that he made a mistake like this, that you know will haunt him forever. But on the other side of the coin-Who was supposed to be watching this baby at 3pm when he *Didn’t* arrive at home?
Actually, that time lag did bother me, and still does. I can’t imagine what took them so long to call.
Well some of you may be jumping the gun. Maybe the parents went other routes to locate their child. In any event, it is tragic. Every year there are stories like this that involve parents themselves making similar tragic mistakes.
No matter what they give Mr. Foreman (if he’s convicted), he’ll be haunted by this death for the remainder of his life.
I think something else took place in those five hours with that driver and that little child. How do you forget a child that’s visble from the driver’s seat?
I also try to avoid clicking on tragic links like that, for the same reason I avoid clicking on links like this anti-daycare website:
http://www.daycaresdontcare.org