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Parenting
Girl, 5, said she drowned boy over crying
omg. 5yr old drowns an 18mo old
this just makes me sad and sick. OMG.
Girl, 5, said she drowned boy over crying
Juvenile justice experts expressed shock Thursday that police said they were treating the death of an 18-month-old boy who drowned in a bathtub as a potential homicide, after a 5-year-old girl told social workers that she held him under water to stop his crying.
Kansas City police said the girl, who was left with other children in the care of a teenager, was considered a possible suspect in the toddler's death last week, raising complicated legal questions about how a court could proceed with a case against such a young suspect.
Bart Lubow, the director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national child advocacy organization based in Baltimore, said a 5-year-old is incapable of forming intent, and likely wouldn't even know what drowning means.
"You can imagine a child responding to other children's crying by saying, 'I know how to stop that.' But the notion that there was intent there is silly," Lubow said. "For a 5-year-old, this is well beyond the pale of what our criminal or delinquency laws are intended to address."
He said the case should proceed with a "very child-centered approach."
Police said the 5-year-old was not arrested, and the case was referred to the Jackson County's family courts division.
Police originally ruled Friday's death accidental, but said that changed after social workers reported that the girl told them she brought the toddler into the bathroom and drowned him.
"The 5-year-old became upset when the child wouldn't stop crying and took the 2-year-old into the bathroom and drowned him," said Officer Darin Snapp, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department. He said the two children were related, but it was unclear exactly how.
"As of right now yes, from her statement, she is a possible suspect," Snapp said.
The children had been left along with others under the supervision of a teenager while an adult in the home went to pick up the father of the 18-month-old, Snapp said. He said the father had recently arrived in Kansas City to take the infant back to their home in St. Louis. It was unclear how long the adult was out of the home.
Mary Jacobi, a spokeswoman for the Jackson County Court, said she could not comment on the girl's current whereabouts.
"We cannot speak at all to the child's current living arrangement," she said.
She said in an email that the Missouri Children's Division had been notified and that a juvenile officer involved in the case had filed a petition for a child in need of care for the 5-year-old. Such a petition would allow the court to determine what services the child needs.
Seth Bundy, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Social Services, said the department could not comment on the case, as did Debra Walker, spokeswoman for the state Department of Mental Health.
In Missouri, a child has to be 12-years-old before he or she can be certified to stand trial, said Vivian Murphy, executive director of the Missouri Juvenile Justice Association. Murphy, who said she was not involved with the Kansas City case, said in general, a child in such a situation would undergo a mental health evaluation and that there would be an investigation into the child's living situation.
"It's all about what's best for the 5-year-old," she said. "The family court in Kansas City is going to do a good job of just looking at the circumstances holistically with the 5-year-old and looking at their environment and look at what's going on."
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Re: omg. 5yr old drowns an 18mo old
Could they charge the babysitter with neglect?
I can't even imagine. That poor family.
I can't sleep, so I am posting at 5am. The story I read states that he 16 yr old babysitter was "mentally handicapped." I don't know that a charge of neglect would be warranted. DD does know what drowning is at age 5 (though she is almost 6) but I don't think the 5 year old should be charged either. DD also knows better than to push her brothers underwater. She knows drowning means you die. She can state that but does she completely understand it? Prob not. It sounds like many things went wrong perhaps depending on the level of functioning of the 16 year old was leaving that person in charge of several children for an unknown amount of time. Sounds skiddish that they don't know how long the parents were gone, that the sitter was sleeping (how long?) and was s/he or she left sleeping, bath water was left out, etc...There seems to be many dangers in that home including not properly educating the 5 year old water safety & perhaps death. I think the parents are to blame.
Story:
Kansas City Missouri police said a five-year-old girl drowned a toddler for crying too much. The victim, 18-month-old Jermane Johnson Jr., lived in the St. Louis area, but was staying with relatives in Kansas City, Mo.The incident happened Friday, June 3 just before midnight. According to Darin Snapp with the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, a mentally handicapped 16-year-old was babysitting the children, but was sleeping at the time of the drowning.
Police intially thought the toddler's death was an accident, but after further investigation Snapp said police determined the girl took the toddler into the bathtub where water remained from a previous bath and drowned the toddler because he wouldn't stop crying. However, police said with the girl's young age, it is difficult to prove she understood the permanence of death.
Definitely! Ethan would know better, and so would Bella. I mean, they wouldn't get the severity of it like an adult, but still...she took him, turned the water on, and drowned him? She had to have held him while fighting, even for a second.
I think what creeps me out about this story is the fact that the 5YO took the 18m old to the bathroom to "stop his crying." It's not like they were in a pool together and the kid cried, and the 5YO did something about it by holding the child underwater.
Sometimes, Jackson (almost 5) does things w/ Scarlett that I think he knows is wrong, but he doesn't quite grasp the consequence. For example, she'll take a toy from him and he might push her away too hard (or even at all since she is so little). He doesn't quite get that that could really hurt her b/c she has questionable balance, kwim? ETA: he knows it's wrong, but doesn't get the severity of the consequence is what I'm saying.
And leaving kids with a 16YO who is mentally handicapped? Umm...no. That is not supervision.
I wonder if the parents left them after they were sleeping thinking they would sleep all night and that is why they thought it would be okay? Obviously still not okay and not something I would do, but maybe that is what they were thinking??
I asked Jake and he said "if you go under water you don't breath, and you die." He said it so seriously and sad, so I'm pretty sure he "gets it."
I think the parents/who ever left them there should be charged with neglect/the death.
First of all, how tragic for everyone.
It seems like adult neglect to me.
I find it ludicrous that they're even analyzing the potential culpability of the 5 year old in the article. I suspect that nearly everyone involved in this story is mentally deficient.