Man Forgets To Drop Baby Off At Daycare - Spends All Day At Work - Baby Dies In Hot Car

[matcom]

<snip>

An 11-month-old boy died in the back seat of the family car in Concord on Tuesday after his father apparently forgot to drop him off at day care and instead left him locked inside the vehicle while he spent the day at work, police said.

The father, 46-year-old Danny Takemoto of Benicia, left home early Tuesday with his son strapped into a child seat, according to Concord police Lt. David Chilimidos.

The boy was identified Thursday by the Contra Costa County Coroner's office as 11-month-old Ian Takemoto.

The man did not stop at the child care center and went directly to his office at a medical equipment company at 4040 Nelson Ave., parking his car, a blue Honda sedan, in the lot near the office.

His wife phoned him at work shortly before 3:30 p.m. to ask why the child care facility had called her to report that her son was not there. In horror, Takemoto raced outside to the car and found the lifeless body of his son still strapped in the car seat, Chilimidos said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/26/MNGPER76GR1.DTL

[Deja Q]

1. 'Takemoto'? Sounds like an innovation made by Motorola...

:hide:

Poor kid. Never mind jail time, if Danny loved his son, the grief will do him far worse... though jail time would definitely remind someone, "Don't forget the tyke". :(

[Hugin]

2. ...

x(

[nini]

3. This is awful and more common than it should be

he will never get over that :-(

[lost-in-nj]

4. How awfully sad

horrible

:cry:


lost

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. A note on this story, and on journalism in general

A woman who opened the front door of the family home in Benicia on Wednesday night and identified herself as a relative of the Takemotos said of the couple: "They're very distraught."

(snip)

Wednesday night, the parking lot that was the scene of the tragedy was nearly deserted. One departing employee of the office building where Takemoto worked hurried to her parked car, visibly upset.

"It's painful right now, sorry," she said, and drove off.

I was a reporter for several years and an editor for five, and I always questioned the standard procedure of interviewing the bereaved so soon after a tragedy. It's extremely intrusive and vulture-like, and any quotes gathered from it would likely be of little news value.

I don't blame people one bit for slamming doors in reporters' faces in such cases.

[Hugin]

6. Yep, it's right on the fine line...

Sometimes a rush for a quote isn't good form.