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The article states that the car had child locks, which were used, so the doors could only be opened from the outside. Furthermore, the kid specifically wanted t
by imgabe 12y ago
The article states that the car had child locks, which were used, so the doors could only be opened from the outside. Furthermore, the kid specifically wanted to go on the trip in the first place so he could sit in the car and play with the iPad, which he was happily doing.
It's not impossible that in the space of five minutes the kid could get bored of the iPad, unbuckle the car seat, and figure out how to disable the child locks from inside the car. It's just very, very unlikely. If that's what had happened there would be a case for getting the police involved, but it didn't happen. If we're going start prosecuting people for every crime they could hypothetically commit at any given point, every single person would be in jail.
- Domenic_S 12y agoI don't agree with tptacek on this (at all), but front doors don't have child locks and it's trivial for a child to crawl up to the front seat.
- tptacek 12y agoYou totally disagree that it's unsafe to leave a four year old alone in a parked car?
- Domenic_S 12y agoI don't, but that's not what I, the article, or your OP were really talking about. What I disagree with is this statement/attitude: > I've flagged down a cop seeing a kid alone in a car, and would do it again. The interesting and proper question isn't whether it's unsafe to leave a four year old alone in a parked car, it's whether leaving a four year old alone in a parked car warrants involvement from the State -- particularly, involvement kicked off by a fellow citizen. It surprises and deeply concerns me that we live in a country/world of social content and community-driven projects, yet when one of our (real-life) community members might possibly be in trouble, a cellphone video and call to the cops is the default (and lauded) reaction. Look, had that 4-year-old been in real danger, a cellphone video wasn't going to help him. A call to the cops wasn't going to help him either (clearly, as they arrived after mom had left). Ok, maybe a coin flip on the cops at best. What can the cops do that the nosy neighbor -- or you -- couldn't? Truly, if someone felt a child's life was in danger, everything else could wait while you supervised the situation and sent someone else to go fetch mom out of the store. Or use that cellphone to call the store, or whatever. In other words, you could actually do something. Unless this fictional example kid is literally dying before your eyes and you think medics/the coroner are going to have to be involved, what's the point of calling the cops? Two options: either a) to throw mom under the bus or b) to let yourself think you did all you could so you can get going to that next meeting.
- tptacek 12y agoOh, you were making a political point. Now I get it.
- mcv 12y agoI disagree that the child locks make it safer. By locking it up, the child is unable to take care of itself. If anything happens, it's stuck. If I can't trust the child to make its own judgments about how to behave in and around the car (which is indeed unlikely with a 4 year old), then I shouldn't leave it alone in the car at all. I'm all for letting children roam free and find their own way. I'm not a fan of locking them up without supervision.
- tptacek 12y agoYou're all for letting four year olds roam free in parking lots?
- mcv 12y agoDepending on the parking lot. Of course it's not a suitable place for kids, but as long as he knows to watch out for traffic, and the parking lot is fairly open, it's better than locking him up. If it's a big and crowded parking lot, I'm more worried about him getting lost than getting run over.