"Father chases down thief who stole car with children inside and beats him to death with help of bystanders" "Three young children – aged seven months, 18 months, and five years old – were in the Hyundai when the carjacker stole it on Thursday evening. Their mother had left the car running as she went into a pizza takeaway where her boyfriend – who is the father of the two younger children – was working at 9pm local time. As the woman was speaking to her partner, the thief climbed into the car and drove off. The children’s parents were both taken into custody for questioning and were said to be co-operating with investigators." See: https://frontier.yahoo.com/news/father-chases-down-thief-stole-120437612.html IMO, these folks likely did not intend to kill this guy. It will be good if we learn the real facts, but may never. Was the thief armed? Did he fight back and if so, how? No expert am I, but I see Carjacking, Kidnapping, both felonies.......What if? What if the guy had gotten away with the car and kids? Frank
Well, first of all... the mother should be charged with child endangerment for leaving them in the car alone with the motor running. All that follows will have to be sorted out by the police.
@Beth Gallagher Disagree. First of all the results of the car jack must be sorted out, IMO, then LAST of all the mother's foolish act inspected closely. Frank
What kind of moron leaves a baby and 2 toddlers in a car with the motor running? Sorry, Frank. Her actions initiated the whole fiasco.
I am in agreement with @Frank Sanoica about this one. You are correct, @Beth Gallagher that the mother should not have gone into the store and left the kids in the car with the engine running, making it easy for the thief to steal the vehicle. However, what she did might have been negligent, but it was not criminal, and I believe that the crime is the main thing that needs to be addressed by the police, not the actions of the mother. Had the thief not been there, she would have run into the pizza parlor, and probably came right back out, and the reason that she left the car running was to be able to leave on the AC in the car to keep it cool for the children while she was inside. If the vehicle had not been stolen, and the children not been kidnapped, she would have done what she went there for, and life would have gone on with no one seeing any fault on the part of the mother. The thief however, was totally there to commit a crime, and didn’t care that he was kidnapping the two children in his effort to steal the vehicle. The parents first thought was to save the babies, and then the father went after the thief, once he was out of the vehicle. Since several other people had to get into the fight to try and help the father, it seems obvious that the thief deserved the beating that he got, and it was likely not intentional that he was injured as severely as he was. They were not trying to kill the man, just beat him up enough to turn him over to the police, and I think that the mother and the father should not be charged with criminal activity for any of this. If people cannot protect their own family from an attacker, then this is a very sad state of affairs. Blaming the victim is NOT the answer.
If it hadn't been for the mother's actions, the opportunist thief would be alive today... he did wrong that's for sure, no question about it, stealing a car with children in it. he was probably high on drugs... but the man is dead.. he didn't need to be beaten to death for stealing a car... and now because of the mother's negligent actions, a Man is dead, and several people will be charged and maybe convicted of manslaughter... and lives ruined all around!!
I have to respectfully disagree with this statement. He chose to do what he did. Had you been simply sitting in your car with the window down and he kidnapped you and your car and he was beaten to death by bystanders would that then make it you fault that he is dead? He created his own destiny. Yes the mother needs to be brought to task for what she did but she did not cause his demise .. he did.
What the mother did IS a crime. Pennsylvania: 3701.1. Leaving an unattended child in a motor vehicle Read the law https://www.kidsandcars.org/resources/state-laws/ The man who stole the car and the children should have been sentenced in a court of law. He chose to commit a crime and brought about his own brutal end. I can't blame the mother for his death; his actions were his own choice. Dealing with the mother and the angry mob can be dealt with simultaneously, imo.
This man was in his 50’s, and had well over 20 years of a criminal record, and they also said he was on drugs, when you look at the original story from the Philadelphia television station. It sounds like the father might not even have been involved in the crowd attack on this man, just in initially trying to apprehend him for police. He attacked the parents when they were pulling him out of their car, and then ran off with the father trying to chase him down. People in the area saw what happened and went to help out the young father, who was only trying to defend his family. If the kidnapper hadn’t been stopped in traffic, who knows what would have happened to those poor little children, or he could have even created an accident and killed other people by his criminal actions. No one intended for him to die, but he already knew that there were risks when he chose to steal someone’s vehicle. He could just as well been shot by police for doing something like this, and he had to know that he would probably have some kind of repercussion from his criminal actions.
I understand what you're saying Maggie... but the fact is the mother left her children in a vulnerable position. ..she must have known leaving a car engine running with children inside could definitely lead to a carjack.. For example, if she'd left her car parked on a hill.. with the brakes off, and it had run down the hill into your car and injured you....would you say she wasn't to blame..!! of course she would be the catalyst.. ..or would you think it would be OK for a bunch of people to grab her and beat her to death for causing fear to your passengers ? It's a difficult call, but I'm still sticking by my opinion that the Mother should be convicted along with the others of a serious crime!!
I wouldn't leave children, or pets, in the car whether it was running or not. However, if someone had taken MY kids, I would've beat the crap out of him and possibly maimed him for life. If he ended up dying, well, karma sucks. If I went to prison for it, .........fine.
Nah, come on and examine the dozens of parallel possible situations where the children could have/would have been exposed to possible danger, wherein the scoundrel is totally to blame, and the parent's actions, while quite possibly moronic, unthinking, or just plain unfortunate circumstance-wise, cannot be called criminal. PA law notwithstanding. For example, at age 5 years two months, my Mother walked me one mile to my first day of school ever, kindergarten. By that age, she felt comfortable with allowing me to go it alone, after just a few days. She had me follow the route where both busy intersections had a crossing-guard. She trusted in my judgment, based on her ministrations of several years' time. Was she a moron? Could I not have been assaulted, kidnapped, etc.? Had I been, would she have been judged criminally negligent? Of course not! Just an example off the top of my head. Too many unknowns to condemn that mother. Sure, she could have locked them in the car. Could have taken them into the store with her. Could have called her husband to come out to the car......maybe that's why she ran in.....maybe just for a minute. Too many unknowns, IMO. Regarding the PA law: A hundred circumstances can be considered which remove the adult from the vehicle, for however short a length of time, all of which are criminally chargeable? What utter nonsense! Pull up to the house, exit vehicle to: unlock the door, remove items from the trunk, open the garage, get the mail out of the mailbox, while the kids remain in the car: criminally punishable? Another law aimed at ameliorating parental responsibility which at one time did not need not to be addressed. Frank
@Holly Saunders And the result of such a conviction would be what? Take the kids away from their parents? Would those folks really deserve that? Such activity occurs over here very often......I have to wonder how childrens' futures are warped by such breaking up of families. This IS a difficult call, and perhaps calling it is really beyond fruitful result for forum discussion. Frank
I don't think I need remind you that society was very different when we were children. That was a time of unlocked doors, cars with the windows down and the key in the ignition, children walking to school, etc.