Wide Disparity in Treatment of Adults Who Leave Kids to Die in Hot Cars

Antonio Balta points to photos of his daughter, Veronica, during an interview at the Florida Dept. of Corrections Desoto Annex May 23, 2007 in Arcadia, Fla. Balta left his daughter in his car while he gambled, and the little girl died from heat exhaustion. The tattoo on his hand reads “Real Lyfe.” (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

07-28-2007, 8:05 PM – By ALLEN G. BREED, AP National WriterMANASSAS, Va.

(Associated Press) — Kevin Kelly is a law-abiding citizen who, much distracted, left his beloved 21-month-old daughter in a sweltering van for seven hours. Frances Kelly had probably been dead for more than four hours by the time a neighbor noticed her strapped in her car seat; when rescue personnel removed the girl from the vehicle, her skin was red and blistered, her fine, carrot-colored hair matted with sweat. Two hours later, her body temperature was still nearly 106 degrees.What is the appropriate punishment for a doting parent responsible for his child’s death?

A judge eventually spared Kelly a lengthy term in prison. Still, it is a question that is asked dozens of times each year.Since the mid-1990s, the number of children who died of heat exhaustion while trapped inside vehicles has risen dramatically, totaling around 340 in the past 10 years.

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Teen Loses 4 Fingers When Firework Explodes

Boy Found Firework In Closet

July 4, 2007

LOS ANGELES — A 13-year-old boy lost four of his fingers on his left hand following the explosion of what was described as as “cylindrical firework” at his South Los Angeles home, a city fire spokesperson said Wednesday.

Fire personnel were dispatched to the scene of the explosion at 6914 1/2 S. Main St. Tuesday at 9:08 p.m., said Los Angeles city fire spokesperson Brian Humphrey.

The teenager told firefighters that he had seen an adult in his home put a “cylindrical firework” in a closet and then leave, Humphrey said.

Mistaking the device for a “Roman Candle,” which is limited to producing sparks, the boy took the firework outside and lit the fuse.

Humphrey said the high-powered explosion that occurred in the boy’s left hand destroyed four his fingers beyond recovery, but spared him other obvious physical impairment.

“Firefighter-paramedics cleaned and dressed the boy’s painful wounds while their colleagues fruitlessly searched the vicinity for remnants of his fingers,” he said.

The boy was accompanied by his mother to Harbor/University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center for further medical treatment.