Tot dies in hot car outside Ariz. eatery

[2112]

PHOENIX - A woman who found her 1-year-old son dead in her hot, stuffy car after she worked her seven-hour shift as a Hooters waitress has been arrested, police said Wednesday.
Ashly Duchene, 22, was booked into the Maricopa County jail Wednesday on a felony count of negligent homicide.

Duchene usually dropped the boy off at a day-care center on her way to work but failed to do so Tuesday, police Sgt. Joel Tranter said.

Instead, she left her son, Ryan Gallagher, in the car when she arrived at the restaurant about 10 a.m., police said. When she returned after her shift at nearly 5 p.m., he was dead.

Temperatures hit nearly 90 degrees Tuesday, but it would have been more than 100 degrees inside the car, Tranter said.

Duchene told officials she remembered glancing at her son in the rearview mirror on her way to work that day, Tranter said. Authorities do not believe Duchene intentionally left the boy in the car.

A request to interview Duchene was not immediately answered by police Wednesday. A call placed Wednesday to a phone number believed to have belonged to Duchene was no longer working.

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20071031/capt.3d4ad65752394f7782644f78e9f87fc2.toddler_car_death_ny142.jpg?x=275&y=345&sig=AWJ1tsr6mrl_5nsRTUaETQ--


link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071031/ap_on_re_us/toddler_car_death_5)

[kstater]

Rot in jail.

[Hammock Parties]

I'm up for a conjugal visit if she needs one.

[Smed1065]

WTF?

Arizona even!

7 hours. I have to think it was on purpose.

This is crazy beyond stupid.

Hope people like me get on the jury.

[plbrdude]

how do you not intentionally leave your child in the car. i'm pretty forgetful myself, but how do you forget to drop off your kid at the sitter. and forget he's in the car?

[MTG#10]

I thought Hooter's waitresses were supposed to be somewhat attractive?

[Bugeater]

how do you not intentionally leave your child in the car. i'm pretty forgetful myself, but how do you forget to drop off your kid at the sitter. and forget he's in the car?
While this doesn't sound like one of them, I've heard of cases where it isn't part of the person's daily routine to drop off the kid(s) and, as hard as it is to believe, they simply forget to.

I'm very sad for her and her child. I doubt she did it on purpose.

[plbrdude]

While this doesn't sound like one of them, I've heard of cases where it isn't part of the person's daily routine to drop off the kid(s) and, as hard as it is to believe, they simply forget to.

I'm very sad for her and her child. I doubt she did it on purpose.


the article did say she usually did. i would like to think it was not on purpose. maybe she was high or stoned. maybe she hadn't slept for three days cause she was on meth.

[Kerberos]

I may be reaching here...... BUT

I'm sorry, If you have children and they ARE your whole life then I find it hard to believe that ANYONE in thier right mind could FORGET to drop of thier child to the daycare..... UNLESS

This chick (as she looks) might have been coked up or on a crack high, or just plain stoned out of her gord. THAT is the ONLY way I believe anyone could possibly forget thier child.

I will ADMIT that in my younger day I may have done something like this when I was experimenting with modern chemistry .....BUT

Thank god I was not a parent till my late 30's and got that shit out of my system.

Anyone that is sober and not insane or a complete moron doesn't get a pass card for this kind of shit.

[KCChiefsMan]

she probably didn't intend to kill the kid but how do you think it's ok to leave a 1 year old in a car when it's hot outside for 7 hours????? She should be sterilized immediately and then prosecuted, stupid people should not be reproducing in the first place

[Hydrae]

If it was a mistake (hard to prove either way), why do you lock her up? How does that keep society safe? You don't think having to live with what happened for the rest of her life isn't punishment enough?

I have never understood the mentality that says we need to punish someone for a terrible, awful mistake. The grief and guilt should be punishment enough, IMO.

[plbrdude]

If it was a mistake (hard to prove either way), why do you lock her up? How does that keep society safe? You don't think having to live with what happened for the rest of her life isn't punishment enough?

I have never understood the mentality that says we need to punish someone for a terrible, awful mistake. The grief and guilt should be punishment enough, IMO.


you're right on that.

[Oh Snap]

While this doesn't sound like one of them, I've heard of cases where it isn't part of the person's daily routine to drop off the kid(s) and, as hard as it is to believe, they simply forget to.

I'm very sad for her and her child. I doubt she did it on purpose.
yet she remembered to put the kid in the car, in his car seat?

[Bugeater]

yet she remembered to put the kid in the car, in his car seat?
Well if she really was intent on killing him would she have bothered putting him in the car seat to begin with?

[thebrad84]

I thought Hooter's waitresses were supposed to be somewhat attractive?
Well, do keep in mind that photo is her jail photo, taken just hours after she had discovered her 17 month old child dead in the back of her car...not even Carrie Underwood would look good in those circumstances...

[stevieray]

yet she remembered to put the kid in the car, in his car seat?


and how do you get out of your car and not see your own kid in the back.../

short shorts ..check
pushup bra...check

son....????????

what a sad day for this young woman.

[Smed1065]

she probably didn't intend to kill the kid but how do you think it's ok to leave a 1 year old in a car when it's hot outside for 7 hours????? She should be sterilized immediately and then prosecuted, stupid people should not be reproducing in the first place

Guess lunch hour and breaks was out of the question as well?

See ya bitoch.

[Demonpenz]

the reason we punish those people is to make us feel better. It isn't keeping any of us safe obvouisly

[stumppy]

If it was a mistake (hard to prove either way), why do you lock her up? How does that keep society safe? You don't think having to live with what happened for the rest of her life isn't punishment enough?

I have never understood the mentality that says we need to punish someone for a terrible, awful mistake. The grief and guilt should be punishment enough, IMO.

I agree. Although I can honestly say if I had accidentally killed my child, particularly the way this happened, I wouldn't care if you locked me up or not. Doing something like this might push a person so far over the edge they might decide to go ahead and join the kid.

[Pablo]

If it was a mistake (hard to prove either way), why do you lock her up? How does that keep society safe? You don't think having to live with what happened for the rest of her life isn't punishment enough?

I have never understood the mentality that says we need to punish someone for a terrible, awful mistake. The grief and guilt should be punishment enough, IMO.Her "mistake" ended a human life. I make all kinds of mistakes, none of them end human lives. I'm sure she'll live with grief for the rest of her life, as she should have to. Just like if I was driving through a residential neighborhood and I look down for a second and kill a little kid. My mistake was being neglegent behind the wheel for one second, and I deserve to pay for that. Her mistake was being neglegent the entire car ride to work and the 7 hour period her child was in the car. It sucks, but you gotta stay on top of things, like a one year old in your backseat, to avoid making serious mistakes.

[ChiefsFanatic]

WTF?

Arizona even!

7 hours. I have to think it was on purpose.

This is crazy beyond stupid.

Hope people like me get on the jury.

I have to say that when my kids were younger there were a couple of times when I was dog tired, and would scare the crap out of myself thinking I forgot my child at home, just because they were asleep in the carseat in the back.

I can honestly understand if she forgot to stop at the day-care, but I can't understand not realizing it for 8 hours.