Parent of the year candidates: A bit of venting About This Page:

[Charlie97]

For those not familiar with me, I am in law enforcement, and have been in this career since I was 21. Throughout the years, I have encountered several things on the job that really irritate me, none more so than when it deals with kids.

This past Monday my partner worked a crash involving a child that was used as an airbag. Harsh and disturbing as it may sound, but yes, a mother had her child sitting on her lap and the vehicle she was in ran a red light and struck 2 other vehicles that were crossing the intersection. The woman's airbag deployed, which struck the 2 year old child and damaged her nose to the point where she was hospitalized for a few days. During an interview with mom, she said that her child hates being in the car seat so she doesn't place her in there just to keep her quiet. When the car seat was checked, it was not secured properly; as a matter of fact it was not secured at all. We took photos of it and were in shock to see that it was brand new. It was manufactured 2 years ago and still had the tags on it. In other words, this lady has had this seat for the last 2 years and has never used it.

Fast forward to today 9:20am. Here in S. Texas the outside temperature is 82 degrees. The ambient temp inside a car is roughly 109 degrees (windows up). My partner is patrolling a parking lot to a shopping district and gets waved down in reference to a child left alone inside a car. He finds the car and sees that there are three (3) kids inside aged 7, 2, and 1. The car is on but the A/C cut off somehow. In speaking to the 7yr old, we identify her father and have the department stores call out his name on the intercoms. About 4 minutes later a man comes outside and asks what the problem is. Seriously???? We tell him about the kids being left in the car and how it is against the law in Texas. His first reaction is to get after the 7 year old because she knows the A/C cuts off and was taught how to reset it to get it going again...but she didn't reset it. He begins giving us a sob story, but the decision from a supervisor is to take him with us. I tell my partner let's do it over by my unit so the kids do not see, and he agrees with me.

We then tell dear 'ole dad to call his wife to come get the kids because he will be placed under arrest for the offense of leaving the child unattended in the vehicle. Dad gets on the phone, contacts his wife, and then hangs up. His next move, it's a doozie. He begins talking to his kids loudly and tells them that we are going to arrest him. We are arresting him because he loves them. The 7 year old starts yelling and crying for him, and he continues telling her they just don't want me to love you. He then walks over to me and calmly asks what the process is. Oh this guy is good. My partner then meets with an investigator, who makes the decision to just file the offense report and they will draft up a warrant for his arrest later. My partner agrees and waits for mom to arrive so that she can drive the car away because dad has not license to drive a car.

Sorry, but I have no sympathy for shallow people (I'm being very nice here, because we are G rated on this forum). People need to understand that in this field, their actions not only affect themselves and their families; they affect us as well. Three years ago, I shattered a window at 11:00am in the dead of summer because there was a child strapped into his car seat, sweating, and gasping for breath. I will never forget those eyes looking into mine as I pulled him out of the car seat. FD estimated the ambient temp inside that car was 119 degrees +. Guess where mom was???? Passed out upstairs. She did not remember strapping her 1 year old son in the car as she left the party at 5am. To top it off, it was his birthday.

Sorry, I just had to let this out and figured you all would be the ones to take the tip of this anger that builds up in a lot of us in this field. But we are the bad guys out there. Aren't we??? I will never understand people.

Take care you all, and be careful out there.