4-Year-Old Chained To Crib In Burning Home

[Kadie]

4-Year-Old Chained To Crib In Burning Home
2 Charged With Child Endangering

UPDATED: 11:04 AM EDT July 25, 2004

COSHOCTON, Ohio -- Two Ohio residents have been charged with child endangering after a 4-year-old girl was rescued inside a burning home on Friday.

"The girl was chained in the crib and could not go anywhere," according to an incident report filed by the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office.

Firefighters managed to rescue the girl, who was transported to a hospital and later airlifted to Children's Hospital in Columbus, the Coshocton Tribune reported. Her condition was not available.

Gerald L. Stewart, 33, and Ridgley A. Allington, 36, both of Coshocton, each face a charge of endangering a child, according to Coshocton Municipal Court records.

more...
http://www.thekcrachannel.com/news/3574844/detail.html

[lynx rufus]

1. Life in prison with no chance for parole

People like these should not be walking among us.

[kimchi]

2. I hope the child is taken away.

And they both go to jail for a long, long time. There is no excuse to chain a child to a crib. Sick bastards.

[koopie57]

3. It is so sad

to realize that a fire that almost killed her probably saved her life. I stop to think though. I was abused as a child. Fortunately I was able to see my sister-in-laws raise their kids and listened to their thoughts about it and realized that my experiences were not the norm. I want to hate the parents, but on the other hand, maybe they are not the ones to blame. Maybe it was those who they learned from. Life is so hard and confusing. Right, wrong, good, bad.... it has become so complicated with the religeous right and norm and just bad examples. It is scary to let your kids go out and be a kid, get hurt, do good things, learn...it is scary and hard to know they might get hurt and to have to be strong for them. I can understand someone be so scared that they do go overboard.

[lostnfound]

5. You have a big heart.

It's nice to read a post like yours.

I'm not saying the parents don't deserve to be charged and/or convicted, but I respect you for not jumping to judgment.

[Blue Gardener]

10. There is no excuse for chaining a child

To her crib. Period. Their parental rights should be terminated immediately.

[leesa]

4. That poor kid! And, again, thank God for firefighters

[noahmijo]

6. Chain their asses to a metal post

Somewhere in the south bronx for a day or two.

[0007]

7. Why couldn't the couple get to the kid?

"Blaine Hughes said that he was driving by the house and saw smoke coming from the second floor, then saw Stewart and Allington coming out of the house."

This sure looks sick!

[SemperEadem]

8. these people should be made to suffer

the slings and arrows of public humiliation and degradation. There is NEVER an excuse to chain a child to anything. If that child is too much for them to handle, they should consider relinquishing their parental rights to her to someone capable of handling a child.

[happyslug]

9. A little more details (Coshocton Tribune Newpaper Article):

http://www.coshoctontribune.com/news/stories/20040724/l...

[Tellurian]

11. he was smoking in bed..thats how the fire started..

It doesn't say...I just see it that way..

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. The circumstantial evidence suggests that, doesn't it?

Sigh!

It's hard to believe that parents would be that thoughtless, but having worked with street kids, I know that there are some who are even worse.

[Tellurian]

13. yes, and also they're too lazy to get outta bed..

and take care of the child..

Another conundrum..

Fire Saves Child's Life!

[scarlet_owl]

14. Stuff like this pisses me off to no end!

Horrible people like this can procreate, but folks like my husband and I can't. As religious as I am, sometimes I feel there isn't a God. I hope those two get locked up for a long time. And I hope that little girl is taken in by a loving, wonderful family. She deserves better than that.

[Spangle]

15. Chained?

Metal chain or restraning harness? Some people call those harness "chains."

Some parents or caretakers use a cover over the top of the cribs to keep the kids in. Hospitals have "cages" that are cribs for tots. All of these are to keep the kids in the cribs.

Cause there are some kids who will not stay in the crib all night. And they are in danger. Not only are they unsupervised in the home getting into dangerous things, they can also leave the home. Such children, if allowed to do any of these things, the parents will be in trouble for child endagerment.

Which means, there isn't enough information yet to make an honest judgement. We don't know if this child was chained with a CHAIN. Or restrained for a reason. While some may say there would never be a reason, I beg to differ. With my 2nd child I had to stay awake all night because he woke up several times during the night and would not stay put. You wouldn't believe some of the horror storys I could tell. Scary, scary, scary!

During that time, people came up with all these ideas of what I SHOULD do. Which included restraint. Instead of a bunch of useless advice, what I really needed was someone to watch him one night so I could get at least ONE night sleep.

I'll wait until I hear the full story.

[demigoddess]

16. I agree, if they were abusive they should get the book

thrown at them but they could have been keeping a wakeful child from wandering. Not every house can be babyproofed we still have some places with heaters that could burn a child if unattended. The authorities will sort out if they were reasonable in their actions.