Echoes of the Georgia case: Father, baby identified in latest hot-car death in Connecticut

[cali]

I am not saying there is evidence of any kind that this was deliberate as is the case in Georgia, but the similarities- the father returning to the car to go out to lunch, etc- are there.

The father of a 15-month-old baby who was allegedly left to die in a hot car in a Connecticut parking lot on Monday has been identified.

Kyle Seitz of Ridgefield was expected to drop his son, Benjamin, off at a daycare the morning of the baby's death but instead forgot and drove straight to a coffee shop before work, sources told the Connecticut Post.

Incredibly, Seitz allegedly returned to his baking car in the middle of the day to go out for lunch, but never realized his young son was still strapped in the back.

Meanwhile temperatures rose to 87 degrees outside, CBS Connecticut reported — likely intensifying the temperatures inside.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/dad-baby-identified-connecticut-hot-car-death-article-1.1861005#ixzz37FWwG56E

[In_The_Wind]

1. Perhaps this information should be included in 'how to care for your child'.

[cali]

2. or pasted on the dashboard of cars of folks with young children.

horrifying.

[WinkyDink]

3. You know, cars aren't limos. I notice a box of tissues in my back seat when I get in the front. Who

are these PARENTS OF BABIES who "can't see" THEIR OWN CHILD?????

[malaise]

4. I have two questions

Q1 Do parents leave kids in cars during winter?

Q2 If one parent does not regularly take the child to the daycare/wherever, shouldn't the other parent call to check that the child has been dropped off?

How do you not remember that your child is in a vehicle when you put him/her there?
What else are you thinking about that could be more important than that?

[GeorgeGist]

8. Q3

Do reputable daycare facilities have a policy of contacting the parents when a child doesn't show up?

[malaise]

10. A reasonable question but parents are responsible

for their children

[magical thyme]

15. in the recent incident, the daycare *did* email the father asking about the boy

Apparently the father was too busy sexting at work to check his email.

[gollygee]

9. I get what you're saying, but

but memory doesn't work on a "most important" basis. People forget very important things just as easily as things that aren't important.

I understand this more when the car seat is still rear-facing though because from the front it looks the same if a baby is in it as if a baby isn't in it. If the baby was asleep and quiet, as you were getting into and out of the car and caught a glimpse of the seat from the corner of your eye, you wouldn't see the baby if the car seat was rear facing.

Parents *can* start front facing at 12 months, but not all do as soon as that because it's safer in car accidents to be rear facing. I didn't see that the article said whether the seat was still rear facing. I can't imagine him driving to lunch and not seeing the kid in the rear-view mirror in the car seat if the seat were forward facing.

It's possible that kids are left in the car in the winter but they don't die. Though there are times here in Michigan where they'd freeze to death. I don't think I've ever read about that but it's possible.

And I don't think one parent would check up on the other parent to see if the kid were dropped off. That would be strange. They'd probably call the dropping-off parent to make sure the kid got there instead. But even that wouldn't be normal. Most people don't think something like this could happen to them so it wouldn't occur to them to do it. But maybe people will start checking up as this is in the news more and more.

[Mariana]

11. I bet they do get left in winter occasionally

but the kids wouldn't normally die because 1) they're bundled up in winter clothes and 2) it takes a lot longer for a heated car to get freezing cold inside than it does for an air-conditioned car to get hot in the summer, especially in the daytime, when the sun heats the inside of the car the same way it does in the summer.

I put my kid in the backseat at first, and I didn't like it at all. I wasn't worried about forgetting her, but I got way too distracted whenever she cried, which was often when she was back there all alone. I finally disabled the passenger side airbag and put her up front, so I could pay attention to my driving. She liked it better, too, she was a lot calmer and quieter when she could see me.

[politicat]

12. Q1 - yes, they do.

It tends to be less fatal, fortunately.

I was one -- 2 months old, mother sleep-deprived, I had conked out and she auto-piloted. Apparently, I slept quite contentedly through her morning accounting classes and while I was hungry and wet, all was well.

Most of 40 years later, she's still not entirely over how lucky she got and what a near miss we avoided.

[malaise]

13. Wow - amazing story

I figured that in winter a parent could run into a pharmacy, supermarket, whatever and nothing bad would happen. Can this become a bad winter habit which leads to parents not adjusting in summer?

[politicat]

16. Not according to all the cognitive science so far.

It really has to do with a set of factors - sleep deprivation, a child who changes normal behavior, a change in morning routine (a detour, dropping off in a different order). It's not that the parent forgets they HAVE a kid, it's that the disruption of the morning routine checks off the mental box that says "drop off child." If the child takes a nap, or is quiet instead of chatty, the brain misses the QC check. It really isn't carelessness or irresponsibility or callousness. It's that we do the same things day after day, and whenever something becomes routine, it becomes an opportunity for error. Sometimes, those errors are fatal. (This is why, for example, ATCs are required to change their day to day ops.) In winter, the advantage is the error is less likely to be fatal, not that the error doesn't happen.

I'm going to use computer metaphors, though brains are more complicated than that. Brains like to set up subroutines because that allows practiced systems to function on a lower processor setting (and thus frees up brain power for more complicated or new processes.) The problem with a subroutine is that it's mostly automated, and thus doesn't have the quality control checks that a new process has. The first time you hand wash a new knife, for example, you're highly aware of where the blade is, how the handle fits in your hand, what part is slippery. After a few months of washing that knife, you don't have to pay such detailed attention anymore, and you no longer have to watch the blade as carefully. This is the point in time when you're most likely to cut yourself while washing dishes, and it's most likely to happen when you get distracted. Will it happen every time? No, but even increasing the probability that it will happen by 1% is enough. Commuting with a child is just a more complicated (and thus more automated) subroutine.

[Ilsa]

5. My absentminded husband was afraid he

Would do something horrible like this. When he goes to work, his mind is on work.

There are "tricks" to remind you that you have a child in the car. Put briefcase, purse, office keys, etc next to the child's car seat. Set up phone call check with spouse that baby was dropped off, etc. Extra diligence is a good thing.

[newfie11]

6. I read somewhere to put your left shoe next to car seat

Once you stand up out of the car you will remember.

[angstlessk]

7. I totally agree

put special attachments one can attach a brief case/purse to on the child seat...

You say it is rare to leave a child in a hot car...so are fucking accidents that require child seats......JUST DO IT

[Fla Dem]

14. Car manufacturers should devise a system where if a seat belt is connected in the back seat

a warning alarm should go off when the car is turned off. Baby and kids seats are attached to the car seat by the seat belts. If the seat belt is still buckled when the car is shut off, then that should set off an alarm. Just like child locks, it you don't have kids, or your kids aren't infants or toddlers any more, you'd have the option to turn the warning system off.

Or here's another idea, baby seat manufacturers could invent some type of pressure disk for the bottom of the baby seat. Once anything heavier than 5lbs is place in the seat, the disk would emit a series of beeps or tones every 5 minutes. That way, the person driving the car is constantly made aware the child is in the car.

Here's some other thoughts until something like that is available:
- people transporting kids to Day Care on their way to work, can put something important in the back seat along side the child, like a purse, wallet, briefcase, cellphone, work id, etc. That way even if they forget the child, as soon as they go for that item and it isn't there they'll remember the child is in the car.
-The parent who is transporting the child has to sent a text to the other parent when the child is dropped off. If the other parent doesn't get the text, they can follow up with them.
-Day care centers can text a parent if the child doesn't show up when expected.

This is such a senseless tragedy. It seems so easy to prevent. Of course none of the above would prevent the purposeful leaving of a child in the car.

[MoonRiver]

17. But until legislation is passed, car manufacturers will do nada.

Same story as seat belts.

[malaise]

18. If the car door isn't locked; if the lights are on

etc., the alarm goes off so they should be able to attach the baby seat to the alarm.