Posted by penguin5612 on August 29, 2008 at 7:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Forgive me, but tell me again...how do you forget your baby?

Posted by VoodooChylde on August 29, 2008 at 8:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)

22 years old with "at least" FIVE children!?! .....Nope, I got nuthin'

Posted by ebtry on August 29, 2008 at 8:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Come on now. Great example to set Mr. DA.... Guess all these other parents out there can now knowingly leave their child alone in a swealtering car as long as they return within a specific period of time and admit their ignorance.

Nice...

Posted by ebtry on August 29, 2008 at 8:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Today's artical:
"The baby was left in the car alone for a matter of minutes:
---------------
August 27th artical:

"It can take a matter of minutes for the interior of a car to reach 100 degrees or more"

"The child suffered heat exhaustion"

Unacceptable APD & DA...

Posted by bigdaddy5 on August 29, 2008 at 8:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)

She is the one who realized she left the baby in the and rushed back to the car and called for help? And its ok? Where were the other 4 welfare kids? My tax dollars are funding food and health programs for stupid people like this and the govt programs that do nothing when they harm a child!! This is ABSURD and LUDACRIOUS!!!!!!!

Posted by abbilene on August 29, 2008 at 8:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)

In all fairness, noone knows if she was receiving any assistance. But CPS needs to snatch that baby, stat.

Posted by law59 on August 29, 2008 at 9:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I don't get it, how do these idiots "forget" they have another human being in the car with them? She needs to "forget" how to make these babies!

Posted by abileneres on August 29, 2008 at 9:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)

This is unbelievable!! She does not get to suffer any kind of consequences???? :O !
she has 4 others at home- or are they at home? where are they? maybe she left them in somebody else's car! R I D I C U L O U S ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Posted by blahblah on August 29, 2008 at 9:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)

You have got to be kidding me!!!

They stated "it is against the law" to leave a baby in a car!

Yes...lets just ignore this and then the next time this happens, let that go and so on and so on.

Nice job Mr. DA!!!

Posted by bigdaddy5 on August 29, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I guess the baby has to die before anyone does anything about this issue?

Posted by mbs0606 on August 29, 2008 at 9:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Sorry, abbilene, but if she's 22 years old with 5 danged kids..... Come on now.

Posted by Texan55 on August 29, 2008 at 10:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)

22 and 5 kids? This is ludicrous! She needs to be spayed.

Posted by abbilene on August 29, 2008 at 10:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I am just not making that assumption. You never know.

Posted by abileneres on August 29, 2008 at 10:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)

She's only 22 & has 5 children already. She's still way young, probably not done having kids yet. I feel for the children. It's hard raising kids. It's alot of work. But being 22 yrs old & having to raise 5! I just can't imagine. When we decided to have our 2 children we settled on JUST having 2 because of how expensive everything is and that we wanted to be able to enjoy life and do things w/them & take them places that they would remember a good childhood. Not having so many siblings- your mom forgets you in the car!!!!!

Posted by JohnB44 on August 29, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)

When this story first appeared, I made a snotty remark about her age and that she probably had four other kids... I am shocked to learn that she REALLY does!!
How in the heck do you have 5 kids by the age of 22? Well... I know HOW... but I don't understand why. I have socks older than this girl! After child number 3 a doctor should have insisted on some kind of contraceptive which doesn't require an effort.
I would be interested to know (nosey) about the father(s). OMG!! 5 kids at 22!! It's insane. How will she ever support them? Is this one of those cases where the mother pops out the babys just for the welfare checks? I've seen it before. It's sickening really. Kids having kids.

Posted by abileneres on August 29, 2008 at 11:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)

'something she didn't do'? what did she not do?
did she not leave her 6month old baby unattended in a car? by gosh- I think she did! It only takes a few minutes for something terrible,unforgivable to happen to a baby. She's just lucky that the baby is ok. She's lucky, BUT,it's still against the law what she did. What if next time,she says-'I'm going to run in here for just 5 mins & leave the baby in the carseat- nothing happened last time' God help that poor baby & the others she has & will probaby continue having............

Posted by wild_bill on August 29, 2008 at 1:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Okay, just a little info here for some of you to chew on. No law was broken. Period. None at all. The mother did NOT call police. She took the baby directly to the hospital herself. HMC folks called APD and CPS. I don't think "Fine" is a medical diagnosis, but it is an accurate description of the baby's condition.

The baby was NOT injured or impaired in any way. That takes "Injury to a child" off the plate. Statute requires serious bodily injury. No charge.

There was no proof of "knowledge or intent" to leave the child in the car. That takes the class "C" misdemeanor "leaving a child unattended" charge off the plate. There are no laws against being stupid, or forgetful or having too much on your mind. I know I am glad for the exception.

What happened could have ended horribly, horribly worse than it did. God be praised, the child is okay. The woman realized she'd made a mistake and made every effort to see that her baby was all right. APD did their investigation and the facts were insufficient to prove ANY crime on the mother's part. Being stupid is not yet illegal.

CPS is investigating. Who knows what, if anything, they will do and whatever it is, we here are unlikely to ever find it out.

Posted by golfmom on August 29, 2008 at 2:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)

hatestheramps- "She caught the mistake and undertook to do everything she could to make sure the child was alright. SHE TOOK HIM TO THE HOSPITAL and called authorities".
Since when is leaving your child in a hot car a "Mistake". It's nothing but pure stupidity not a mistake. It's a mistake when you lock your keys in the car not leave your child in the car.

Posted by rlc00b on August 29, 2008 at 3:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I still don't understand how you can forget one of your kids. And I really don't understand how after in a previous article they stated that it was illegal to leave your child unattended in a car, but it makes it ok because she ran back outside???? Is it not really illegal??

Posted by wild_bill on August 29, 2008 at 3:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)

golfmom, stupidity is not currently illegal. Nor are mistakes commonly held to be crimes.

ric00b, the world is full of stuff I don't understand, but I do understand APD could not PROVE the young woman knowingly and intentionally left the child in the car; nor was the child injured in any way. Thus, the woman cannot be charged with either injury to a child or leaving a child in a car unattended under the statutes of the State of Texas.

Posted by mary_weeks2001 on August 29, 2008 at 3:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)

why not lock her in a car for 5 mins in this summer augest texas heat and come back to her.
i know people that young that have a lot of kids. its crazy

Posted by golfmom on August 29, 2008 at 3:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)

wild_bill- I never said that stupidity was illegal nor do you mistakeingly commit a crime. I'm not judging this young woman. I simply stated that it's not a "Mistake" when you leave a child in a hot car. It's just stupid.

Posted by robertwp on August 30, 2008 at 10 a.m. (Suggest removal)

1st story:
"Gates found that the suspect, a 22-year-old Hispanic female, had left her 6-month-old child unattended in her vehicle while the suspect was in a nearby store. The child suffered from heat exhaustion and was taken to a local hospital for treatment."

2nd story:
"The baby was left in the car alone for a matter of minutes Monday in the 1300 block of Barrow Street while the mother, 22, went into the store to shop for groceries, said Abilene Police Det. Erin Bennett. The infant was examined at a hospital and was pronounced fine by doctors, she added...The woman apparently realized she had left the baby alone in the car and immediately ran back, leaving the cart in the store, Bennett said. "She's the one who panicked that he wasn't OK and called police," she said. "She's the one who took him to the hospital. He was fine."

Are these two reports about the same incident?

Nice job ARN. Somebody needs to give the third graders some experience in journalism. It might as well be you.

I still think it is ironic that the woman who acts irresponsibly enough to kill her kid gets off free and the guy who drank too many beers and only endangered himself gets locked up. That says a lot about our society values.

Posted by rsjz4 on August 30, 2008 at 10:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)

22 and 5 kids! This woman needs a lesson in birth control! If you can't take care of them (and leaving them in car is not taking care of them), then quit having them!!

She at least needs to be charged with neglect!

Posted by mbs0606 on August 30, 2008 at 11:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)

robert- I also agree. The stories don't match up. And of course the mother is going to tell the APD that she "forgot" the baby in the car. We already know her IQ is the equivalent of a doormat. How can you not see your baby in the rear view mirror? When my son was an infant,I always had my rear view mirror angled to where I could see him and the vehicles behind me.

Posted by SYLVIASWEETY on August 30, 2008 at 2:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Having so many kids that you could actually leave one behind and not notice right away is TOO MANY KIDS. What would you call FORGETTING a child... hmmmmm.. NEGLECT! Tell me how in this day and age that one could support 5 kids at age 22? Gee, where does she work, I need to get a job there.

Posted by rsjz4 on August 30, 2008 at 2:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

sylvia - i would imagine at the age of 22 with 5 kids her job is living off the system.

Posted by SYLVIASWEETY on August 30, 2008 at 10:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)

rsjz4 - You are probably right. I think when someone is already on the system their benefits should not be increased with another child. They should have to learn to budget with what benefits they are already receiving. Why would you want to have ANOTHER child when you can't even afford the ones you have? Being on public assistance is not doing it on your own, the Taxpayers are footing the bill. 22 and 5 kids, sorry to say she's a sad statistic.

Posted by btfp on August 30, 2008 at 10:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

There is a law about leaving an infant in the car alone period, and a law about leaving a child under 13 in the car alone for over 5 minutes.

Are we just choosing which laws we enforce?

Posted by steppin_in on August 31, 2008 at 12:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)

It's unfortunate that this child is so young and has the responsibility of so many children. My hands were plenty full with 2 very good children. I consider myself blessed.

I wonder if (without the pack mentality) one could picture this person as a responsible young adult who perhaps did not 'pop' all these children out, just for the welfare check? I wonder (without the pack mentality)if perhaps this young adult might have married someone who could have already had one, two, maybe 3 of these children. It doesn't give us the details of her actual acquisition of these children.

I don't know these things to be true, but I wonder if it's possible not to always read the very worst into something we don't exactly know every detail about?

I wonder how one expects a person to 'rise above' anything when they have people who don't even know them predicting their future for them and writing such vicious (and perhaps totally untrue) things about them in the paper or on the net?

I wonder what it might feel like to perhaps read all this online while you might already be beating yourself up pretty bad about putting yourself in this position or perhaps seeing that this many children at this age might be more than you can handle efficiently, but it is a little too late?

I think we all have done things we're sorry for. Some of us have gotten our noses so far up that we sometimes seem to have forgotten (or at least hope everyone else have). Some of us have moved to different towns to begin again, or perhaps become a recovering addict instead of a practicing one. There are an infinite amount of things done in our lives (all of them) that we regret and still it is so much easier to tear down someone else instead of be a part of something that might lift them up instead.

I don't know this girl, but I do know one thing. We could do a whole lot more for her by lifting her up than by tearing her down. For those of us who claim Christian values, her sin is no worse than that of the continuous gossip and speculation that goes on here daily.

Posted by wild_bill on August 31, 2008 at 5:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)

btfp, see my original comments. The DA won't take a case he can't prove. Why waste taxpayers' money when there is no proof an offense was committed? Just to punish someone for a mistake?

robertwp, two different reporters; two different reports; same incident. Did the facts change or just the interpretations? That's the problem with people. They can take the same information and build two or three or even more different stories. Many here have done just that; taken a few comments from a reporter and written their own sordid little stories that have little or nothing to do with reality.

steppin_in, I applaud your post and your sense as well!

I asked some folks who knew more about the case than the reporter and here's what I found out: The mother is married to the father of all five children (including a set of twins). She was a working mother up until very recently. The father also works full time. I didn't ask their names, race(s), religion(s), social status or address. It has no relevance to the issue here.

This young woman is no "welfare queen" abusing the system or a parasite on the body politic. She made a very bad mistake. Luckily the results were not nearly as serious as they might have been. She is getting needed help from CPS and from her family here in town.

Posted by robertwp on September 1, 2008 at 4:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)

"Tell me how in this day and age that one could support 5 kids at age 22? Gee, where does she work, I need to get a job there."

Maybe she has a mom like Sarah Palin.