Even in the darkest of days I hear of events that cause me to realize that just by walking this lovely planet I am still a lucky guy. I had a tragic event occur next door the other day. In a nutshell I heard a baby cry and I always go over to make sure no little guy is out running around my neighbors yard which isn't fenced in. They have a baby just able to stand and a toddler and the toddler has been out before by himself. I found my neighbor working on a truck and the baby was in the play thingy next to the truck in the shade. I went over and the baby got up to see me, he could stand and that is about it so I said "hey little dude" like I always do and talked to him. I noticed he suddenly just let out loads of sweat, which threw me and I felt his head and he was very hot. I didn't want to insult the father so I basically said "Good thing he's not in the sun, he's really hot though" and the dad said "yeah, I'm watching him today". I mentioned how maybe he needed to be cooled down and talked the the baby a bit more then left. A few hours later I came out to see police tape up and the baby had been put down and died. I was crushed because I didn't push harder to get him brought inside but I don't know if the heat had anything to do with the loss but I'm betting it is. Watch your kids and your selves. This baby was a sweet little guy and should have had a long life ahead and in just a couple days it has destroyed his parents and once they find, as I think, that he was dehydrated who knows if charges will be brought. Terrible thing.

I'm sorry you had to have this experience, Santa. Terrible if the ignorance and insouciance of his parents led to his demise.

Santa, that's a terrible thing to go through.

Don't beat yourself up over this. You expressed concern which is more than a large number of people passing by might have done. Please let us know what happens, and believe me when I say that you did try and I for one admire that.

Oh my goodness. How terribly sad for everyone.

I think you might find that you will be telling this story in court.

Just read the lion cub saved by mom thread and now this.
We humans are top of the species for sure?????
Santa, there was nothing you could do. You changed today it would have happened tomorrow. At least you did more than most other would have but in the long run you wouldn't have been able to make a difference and it is sad you were forced into a situation like this. Between a rock and a hard place.

Santa I'm very sorry to have heard that. I agree don't beat yourself up over it. Not knowing what your your neighbors are like but from what you said of of the exchange you did have with the father. Even if you had pushed to have the child taken into the house you would have been told "no he's fine and I'm almost done here" Or maybe even told off if that was the nature of father. I understand the feeling and I don't think any of us would feel any different if it had been us telling this story.

You did all that you could.

Randy

Wow, very terrible and tragic.

Wow. So many unanswerable "what ifs", so many haunting thoughts. And the comment about being in court is quite possible.

Santa, for what it may be worth, you and that young baby are in my thoughts this day.

Peace to you both,
-B.H.

It goes without saying that this is very sad and messed up. You shouldn't blame yourself though, I believe that you are a good dude who did what you could with the information you had. Unfortunately, don't think there's much any of us can say that will really help.
You're still my eBro no matter what.

It is very sad, he was a sweet baby. The parents have moved out of the house, the mother said she cannot stay there, and last I heard was the police wanted an internal autopsy done since there was no bruising etc.. I don't know how cops can do their jobs with the kids involved.

What a sad story man. As has been said, it wasn't your fault-don't beat yourself up, I have no doubt you did what you thought was right.

Sorry to hear this. Just remember that it is not your fault. You told the dad that the child was hot and he is the one who should have done more.

Wow Santa... So sorry to hear this.

RIP little baby...

This is so sad as it could've been easily avoided by the dad.

Easily avoided, assuming the infant died of dehydration/heat exhaustion, rather than something else entirely that could not have been avoided by the dad.

I have known parents who were suspected of infant abuse before it was discovered that their child had osteogenesis imperfecta.

It's a horrible story, and none of us yet know what really happened. Santa probably did more than I would have done. I might have been afraid to talk to the neighbor at all.

Here's a "scenario" to make us all think:

Let's say you are at WalMart, and there is a car with a child strapped into a baby seat in an otherwise empty car with rolled up windows. The child is sweating and apparently asleep.

What do you do?

Last year there were two dogs locked up in a car on my street. Neighbors called the police. Police came and broke into the car. One of the dogs was saved; the other died.

Should we/ would we do any less for human babies?

In that case I would definitely call the police and notify the Wal-Mart staff (most, if not all, stores have their own security.)
I may break the window myself, though I'm not 100% certain without being in the situation. But the 911 I would call and store staff notify for sure.

The police might get there in ten minutes. Maybe five.

The Wal-Mart staff might spend five minutes arguing about what to do before putting a message out saying "Wal-Mart shoppers...." and then calling the police.

Truth be told, I think that we would have every right to break that window. But most of us wouldn't, I don't think. It doesn't make us bad people. It just means that we've been ingrained with contrary views of civility that say, "don't mess with other people's babies. That's their business."

I think I would break the window. I hope I would. But I just can't say I definitely would unless I was in the actual situation. It's a crazy situation filled with variables. Although, the baby being unconcious I think makes it much more likely that I would bust in. An empty gun holster in the passenger seat might give me pause. But then, if I get shot then the parent goes to jail and the baby goes to the state where it hopefully won't get left in any cars.
I just don't know until I'm there.