Dog Kills Newborn. Father Charged. Should he be charged?

It sounds like it was a very stupid and fatal accident. In retrospect. Poor baby. But I don't think laws cover things like that, nor should they. If he's got any soul in him he'll be punishing himself for the rest of his life.

Stories like this are lessons to other people. Sad, but they happen so that others don't make the same mistake.

Originally posted by syrinx high priest
how you not hear it ? somethings up. the sleeping story is either a lie or he was high

He looks like a meth addict in the photo. Looks like he could sleep for a week with those bags under his eyes.

I'd say he was sleeping. After being high.

reply to post by pheonix358


The difference is. It wasn't his dog. He didn't raise it or have it in his household to be accustomed to that child. That was just foolish. But I think the price he paid already is far greater than society could give.

Originally posted by smithjustinb

Originally posted by dorkfish87
reply to post by smithjustinb

 

Yes, the father made a mistake, a stupid one. A very stupid one.
Should he be charged? Of course. If you own a dog and the dog gets out, you're responsible.

If I have a dog in a fence and the dog gets out and kills someone, I should be responsible? Are you joking?

Actually, you are responsible. The laws clearly state that you are responsible for the actions of your pet at all times. If your dog runs onto the road and gets hit by a car, you are actually responsible for the damage to the car.

If you are walking your dog or he escapes and harms someone or someones property, you are responsible.

I am an animal control officer, I deal with this stuff daily.

Of course the father should be charged. A dog is still a wild animal, you can't take it out of a dog.

I feel horrible for this family first of all. What a terrible and tragic thing to happen. I remember the birth of my first child, we got rid of our dog because she was more than curious about our new baby. I didn't want to take the chances with her attacking my newborn. Even still, accidents happen. We as humans cannot be perfect, the guilt of losing a child from our wrongdoings, whether it be from ignorant negligence or not, is still painful. I just read an article about toddlers recently. When a parent puts their children on their laps to go down slides, there is a risk that the shoes will get snagged by the plastic/metal of the slide and that is how many toddlers break their legs. I did that all the time with my children, but never once did they break a bone. It doesn't mean it can't happen. There are so many ways to get injured and little children are so fragile. It doesn't matter how careful we are sometimes things happen, that we wish to God we could go back into time and change it. He probably didn't even realize that this animal was capable of that.

If I were the father, I would plead guilty and ask for the death penalty. I couldn't live with myself is this happened to my child. Just reading the story makes me sad and worried.

This was an accident, a tragedy done without malicious intent or forethought.

This father should receive therapy, not criminal charges.

At the very most he should be perhaps encouraged to talk about what happened and to warn other parents about the dangers of pets around children.

Imprisoning him is a waste of tax payer money, and will do nothing but create irreparable harm to himself and his family.

INNOCENT of a crime, but guilty of making a mistake.

The facts are that he is responsible for his child's safety & well being and he was responsible for the dog as the owners had left it in his care.

He then neglected to take care of either of them and as such resulted in the death of the infant and likely the dog as well as it's probably going to be put down if it hasn't already

So he negligent on more than 1 count and because a child has been killed under his care then he is responsible for the death and has been charged accordingly. It's a pretty simple case really.

Yes I feel sorry for the man for his loss but it was because of his own actions that he's in this mess. If he felt that he was too tired to care for his child and his friends pet then he should have got someone else to take care of them for an hour or 2 while he got some rest.

Disregard.

Gs

Inside pets and babies don't mix. This is a tragic story. My prayers go out to the family members.
We had a dog that bit four women on the fingers unprovoked. He was five and bit me on both thumbs when I was
nine months pregnant.He was inside because we had a huge blizzard of snow in 1996 in Virginia. He might have been overheated. I was getting a glass of ice water and I droped a cube, which he picked up and took into the family room and laid it on the carpet. Ten minutes later I picked it up to put it in the sink, and the dog got angry and came after me. I loved the dog very much. I did not want my child to have a missing ear, or scars, or anything worse to happen. So, we put the dog up for adoption. A lady with other outside dogs on a farm took him. The problem was once a year he would unprovokedly bite someone. He might have had distemper at the dog pound as a puppy. Mix breed dogs can be unpredictable. I have seen people's dogs kill their other dogs in a fenced in back yard. Someone's Lab took off their nephew's ear, the boy wandered int the dog pen. All dogs can bite, their mouths are full of teeth. Now when I look at my grown up child I can see he has no scars and everything is as it should be on him.

reply to post by smithjustinb


This man is not innocent. The child would have begun to cry in pain and the father chose to ignore it while he slumbered. He is fully responsible. This is negligent behavior for a new parent, to leave a newborn alone in another room with a strange dog in the house.

HE should be hung by the highest tree.

God rest in peace the final karma of the innocent child who died needlessly.

this is tragic....wasn't even their dog....DAD went to sleep in one room with the other child...left the baby in the swing in the other room with the dog.....the stupidity....what in the >?@@ was he thinking????

especially when it wasn't their dog....hopefully he isn't covering up and blaming or involving the dog.

why didn't he hear the child screaming....even from the other room...you would think....

reply to post by smithjustinb

Dog Kills Newborn. Father Charged. Should he be charged?

Dogs and humans have had a close bond for millennia. In fact, the more we study this creature, the more we find that we don't understand how domesticated dogs got to be such a perfect match for people, or exactly how they even came into being. But even so, they are still animals and operate by instinct first. For that reason alone, children and adult dogs should not be left unsupervised.

reply to post by smithjustinb

Exactly my friend. People shouldn't be put in jail for accidents.

Leaving a child in a hot car isn't considered an accident..
So why should leaving a child alone in a room unprotected from an animal be called an accident?

It was a choice... a very poor choice.

Originally posted by smyleegrl
Prison as a just sentence?

The father will live with this for the rest of his life.

He's already in prison, and this one has no parole.

Hell yeah he is.
I would of probably burned the dog and shot myself.
Waking up to that has got to be HEEEEAAAVY.

Hmm.Something just doesn't seem right about this story.How the hell did the father not hear the dog attacking his child? I would imagine the child would be screaming very loud.

It makes me wonder if he was under the influence of something and passed out...if that's the case then yes,he should be sent to jail.Either way it's a tragic story.

On everyone wondering how the Father could never hear this, I point to the nature of dogs at the heart of the matter. Those eyes are forward stereo vision, not side looking. Those are mighty pointy and sharp teeth every dog has... especially those canines.

So what does all that say? Well..First..I need to consider my OWN harmless mutts, if we have another child. Scary, but this is just unthinkable. The main thing though.. Dogs are carnivorous predators. Humans have spent centruries breeding the wolf out of the family pet and work dog....

...I'm guessing, given how the dog so brutally handled the body, it went right for the throat at the first noise. It would seem, this dog wasn't playing right from the start. Whatever tripped it's trigger, it went for the kill then...Good Lord...dismembered the remains.

I seriously doubt there was more than a few seconds noise which carried more than a couple feet..and it's almost enough to cry over, to imagine it out that far.

I still say Dad here will get all the sentence he needs for the rest of his life..Prison not required.

reply to post by SaneThinking


Everybody is assuming that this man WILL suffer guilt for the rest of his life. I don't think so. I would certainly hear a child screaming while it is mauled to death. Even from a sound sleep. In another room. Behind a closed door. Something is not right with the story.

District attorneys almost always overcharge at first as a bargaining chip. More than likely this will be plead down to either a lesser charge or a sentence recommendation of much less than the ten year max.

Even IF he was found guilty of the current charge, I find it most unlikely a judge would give him a ten year sentence (that seems to me, more like a 2nd degree murder sentence) unless there is either more to this story,which very well could be considering the very short length of the article, or he has multiple prior convictions.

Should he serve some time? Yes. Ten years? No.

Unfortunately this happened to an infant who had absolutely no way of defending himself and was completely dependent on his parent(s) for everything, especially safety. This alone raises the bar on the fathers' responsibility. The fact he was "dog-sitting" raises the bar even higher, as now the infant was left alone with an animal that the father was not "intimately" familiar with with. To me this places an even greater responsibility for caution and attentiveness about his child in relation to the dog.

Personally, I think a year or two to drive the point home about how serious nature of the responsibility of caring for a child. Definitely some counseling, not from a punitive point of view, but in the fact he will need some guidance in his personal dealing with the death of his son. Parenting classes when he is released, so he is bettered prepared in case he becomes a parent again (or already has other children).