Baby drowns as mom talks with salesman

[Common Sense Party]

McMillan had just put her son, Jerwond Marquies Elder Jr., in the bath. She was interested in Verizon products, though, so she invited Freeman in. Freeman said he could hear water running.

I hope that baby is not in the bathroom unattended, Freeman thought as he waited for his laptop computer to come online, he later told the Sheriff's Office.

He asked for the home's phone number. McMillan didn't know it, so Freeman had her dial his cell phone to find out. Her number popped up at 4:25 p.m.

A few minutes later, McMillan excused herself. The sound of running water stopped, then she returned. Freeman asked for her Social Security number. As McMillan typed it in his computer, he noticed water on her arms and tank top. While the system checked McMillan's credit, she excused herself again.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/baby-dies-after-tampa-mother-leaves-him-unattended-in-bathtub-deputies-say/2118263


Absolutely horrific. She even came back out and tried to get her credit approved KNOWING that her baby was dead in the next room.

[cali]

1. you forgot a link

[Common Sense Party]

2. Oops.

Thanks.

[KittyWampus]

3. signs little one might have been abused physically beforehand>

Jerwond Elder Jr. was taken to Florida Hospital Tampa, where he was pronounced dead at 5:16 p.m. Sheriff's detectives noticed a bruise on his nose and a cut under his upper lip.

[Common Sense Party]

4. I wasn't sure if that happened before or if that was during the drowning.

[winter is coming]

5. Not enough there to say abuse versus a face plant from a kid learning to stand.

Yes, it might be abuse, but kids learning to stand and walk do collect minor injuries.

[Ednahilda]

36. Thank you for that.

It's so important to remember that toddlers are always falling into/onto/over things and get pretty banged up without any help from anyone else. If the toddler has an older and more agile sibling whose lead s/he is following, the kid can end up with quite a range of bumps. Not every bang a kid gets is abuse. We raised three boys and my husband and I used to joke that the day all the kids had no scrapes or bruises on their faces we were going to rush them to a photographer so we could finally get a good picture for the grandparents.

[winter is coming]

39. LOL, I originally almost added that kids seem more accident-prone the closer you get to picture day!

I see my experience has been shared by others.

Also, the odds of clothing being badly stained rise exponentially if the clothes were a gift. I remember one particular onesie we got as a present: my kid had a messy blowout so many times while wearing it that we called it "the poopy onesie".

[joeglow3]

18. I had a friend whose son drowned at home a month ago

The local media and people on message boards blasted them for abuse. Sadly, it was tragic accident and was ruled as such. Of course, all those people were silent thereafter (no admittance that they jumped the gun and dragged my friend through the mud). In short, the facts will come out.

[Warpy]

34. Very young children can move like lightning

and their big heads unbalance them. This can be tragic around water, kids have been known to tip over and drown in mop buckets when mom turned away for a few seconds to make a few passes with the mop.

I'm guessing this was a typically overtired mother (a reason she couldn't remember her number, sleep deprivation does that) and a tragic accident. Could it have been prevented? Yeah, if he was in the water and not in the bathroom just leaning over the edge of the tub to grab a toy and fell in.

I don't see this as a heartless abuser. The injuries are consistent with a face plant.

[tblue]

78. Yeah. I have no need to trash talk her.

She paid an awful enough price for her negligence and will probably go to prison. I was not a perfect mom though I tried hard to be. It's the most intense job in the world and moms take the blame for everything. Sometimes it's fair and sometimes it's not. I wonder was she high on something. Poor baby boy, siblings, daddy, and messed-up mommy. The salesman should have gone into the bathroom himself if he was suspicious. Now he's scarred for life too.

[DonRedwood]

76. Very sorry for your friends Joe

:0( Poor kid.

[joeglow3]

81. It was terrible

His son almost 2. He went to the bedroom to get a towel, pajamas, & a diaper. Came back and the kid was under the water. He made a comment to paramedics that he did not want to live and got hospitalized for a mandatory 48 hour period.

His twin brother lives here locally. He flew out for the funeral and said it was the worst thing he has ever experienced (seeing his brother basically "playing" with his son in the coffin before they shut it for the last time).

Autopsy showed vomit and water in his lungs. They don't know if he vomited and choked and fell or if he slipped and hit the tub, causing him to vomit.

All this happened in less than a minute to a minute and a half.

The media covered the hell of if when in happened (with one outlet printing their names). Once the autopsy came back, NONE of the media covered it.

[Common Sense Party]

6. Amazing. Multiple threads with scores of posts about the OUTRAGE of a 5 year old with a gun

shooting his sister.

And yet no one has any sympathy for this little boy, and no outrage at the criminal neglect on the part of the mother.

[LeftInTX]

7. I agree it's pretty bad

She's gonna get charged with neglect.

And I sure hope they charge the parents of the other with neglect too. With guns you never know.

[Pelican]

8. Since you never know...

... you could charge every parent that has anything in the home that could potentially kill a child.

What kind of logic is that again?

[LeftInTX]

9. There have been many accidental shootings of children where charges weren't filed

99% of the time, it was because a loaded gun was not secure.

What I meant is you never know if they will file charges or not.

[Kingofalldems]

11. What?

[blueamy66]

25. The criminal neglect would be when she named her kid Jerwond

wtf?

[SMC22307]

56. My goodness, you are a nasty one. (n/t)

[blueamy66]

71. no the mother was when she named her kid Jerwond

wtf again

[Major Nikon]

77. *Sigh*

Red herring is an English-language idiom, a logical fallacy that misleads or detracts from the issue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring

[alittlelark]

10. Some ppl are not fit parents... no education regarding CHILDREN.

Only Test~oriented sh*t. This story makes me want to 'curl up into a ball', 'run screaming through the woods'........ Perhaps her brain is indeed beyond repair (mental health budget cuts be damned.)..... Perhaps she had no EDUCATION about what raising a child is all about.

ALL HS students should be taught what it takes to take care of a child (Duh, yeah). Someday 75% of them will be doing just that.

[HappyMe]

12. Wow.

What the fuck is wrong with her!

[Electric Monk]

13. You're doubling down on yesterdays deflection attempt by The Straight Story? Pretty transparent.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2803191
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2806045

Yes, this child's death was tragic, and avoidable, but you're using it in an attempt to score political points against any kind of reasonable gun control regulations like mandatory background checks, which is pretty disgusting too (imho).

[HappyMe]

14. The OP was posted on May 2nd.

Not every damn news story has to be made into gunz crap.

[Electric Monk]

15. Ah, so TSS was copying CSP then. Thanks for pointing it out, I'd missed that.

Also, CSP made it about gunz http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2806033

[HappyMe]

19. Sorry if I sounded like I

was barking at you.
I am getting tired of reading other news stories and somebody here will try to make it about guns.

[pintobean]

16. You're accusing the op

of knowing, three days in advance, what was going to be posted on Sunday, and you're claiming you can read his mind.

You're awesome, Monk.

[Electric Monk]

17. I followed CSP's post from that thread to this thread and didn't read dates. Guilty as charged. nt

[snooper2]

55. You shouldn't try to score points calling out somebody else trying to score points

based on scoring points on another post about the dead...

[Electric Monk]

58. Actually, I stand by what I wrote. CSP doubled down on TSS's thread by linking to here from there

today.

Also, it's very telling where you stand by who you choose to defend and who you choose to go after.

[Common Sense Party]

60. Yes, it's very telling indeed.

You only care about negligent GUN owners.

[pintobean]

64. If you weren't attacking members

there wouldn't be any reason to "defend" anyone. Not that I was defending anyone, I was just pointing out your behavior.

[Electric Monk]

66. I've seen you defending others in threads I was uninvolved with, often shortly before they were PPR.

I'm just pointing out your behavior

[pintobean]

70. I've seen admin

hand you your ass over one of your witch hunts. I'd link to it, but they shut down the Meta forum because of that kind of behavior.

I'm just pointing out admin's behavior.

[Electric Monk]

72. re: "hand you your ass" is your opinion. Skinner asked politely for me to not tie his name to it

and I said ok.

Since then, 4 of the 5 I listed in my "witch hunt" (as you call it) have been PPRd though, but 1 at a time instead of all at once. I was just ahead of the curve

[pintobean]

73. Skinner asked politely

You argued the point, Skinner pointed out that he made a reasonable request and that the ball was in your court, then you got the point and quickly self deleted. "Witch hunt" was the term Skinner used at the time.
Yes, "hand you your ass" is my opinion. I base that opinion on the fact that he chose to do that publicly, rather than in a PM. I think he was trying to send a strong message to all of us. Like his thread about Meta and community standards, that message was ignored.

[closeupready]

20. Oh, please. EVERYONE here uses any and every story to score.

political points.

[Common Sense Party]

21. Wrong as usual.

I'm not against background checks. That's just a preposterous thing to say.

All I am pointing out--which is not disgusting at all--is that there is CLEARLY a selective sense of knee-jerk outrage on the part of anti-gun types. This type of story draws NO interest, no outrage, no calls for punishment or new legislation.

Some jerk in Kentucky leaves a loaded gun where one child can shoot another child and it's wall-to-wall outrage--dozens of threads, denunciations of the parents and the "gun culture" an the NRA.

Both situations are equally tragic and horrific. What is "disgusting" is the callous indifference shown by anti-gunners to children who die due to negligence that DOESN'T involve evil guns.

[Electric Monk]

22. There are roughly 2,500 infant deaths from SIDS in the US each year. Would you like 2,500 threads

about that?

[Common Sense Party]

23. Is SIDS the result of criminal negligence in every single instance?

Is that what you are implying?

[Electric Monk]

27. How about we continue this conversation when some negligent mom walks into a mall, or a school, or

a theater, or restaurant, etc and drowns a dozen or two innocent people there?

[Common Sense Party]

29. So deaths are only tragic when they come in multiples?

Strange, I thought this thread had to do with negligent parents, not homicidal mass murderers.

[HappyMe]

26. The gun arguers would find a way

to turn that into a big damn gun melee.

I cannot wait until ALL of the gunz go back into gungeon 1 and gungeon 2.

Gun control is important, but it is getting tiring clicking onto a news story that doesn't have a damn thing to do with a gun and BOOM there's a gun argument in it.

[Common Sense Party]

31. ???

Your post is missing something.

[JI7]

37. Are there people who are opposing any attempts to prevent these things from happening ?

as the NRA and other Gun Nuts do with any type of regulation involving guns ?

[Common Sense Party]

38. I'm not sure what that has to do with the price of beans on a cold Chicago morning.

Perhaps you can enlighten me.

[JI7]

40. your post complained about people who want gun control

[Common Sense Party]

41. It complained about people who only seem to view negligent gun deaths as horrible tragedies

but who could care less about other negligent deaths--people who cannot express any sympathy for this innocent child who drowned while her mom had her credit checked for a cell phone, for example.

Hypocrisy, in other words.

[Electric Monk]

42. What sort of regulation would you propose to prevent mothers from negligently allowing their infants

to drown in the bathtub?

Don't just complain about life, try and make it better

[Common Sense Party]

45. I don't think negligence can be regulated out of existence.

Do you?

At the same time, I think it is tragic and just as worthy of outrage as an idiot parent leaving a loaded gun for a child to use.

[Electric Monk]

47. I don't know where you got that quote from, but that's not what I wrote. nt

[Common Sense Party]

49. You are right. My bad. I forgot whom I was speaking with.

I will delete.

[JI7]

43. many kids die in horrible tragedies , if we don't start a thread to express sympathy for each one

it means we don't care ?

the issue of gun control is because there are fucked up gun nuts who are trying to prevent anything from being done .

this is so stupid . it's like saying if people protest war in iraq they must not care about some poor kid that died of hunger in some poor nations.

[Common Sense Party]

46. I thought the issue of gun control was to prevent people from being killed.

Now it's about "gun nuts"?

[JI7]

50. the gun nuts are part of the whole issue of trying to get Gun Control Passed

they are the ones trying to prevent it.

same reason anti choice types are a concern when we discuss abortion rights.

[Quantess]

52. I don't see what you are seeing / imagining.

This is a time-tested, typical DU topic that has nothing to do with guns. If it were an accidental kitchen knife death, you might have had a point.

[Electric Monk]

54. Here's why this thread was actually about guns from the get go, and not about this drowned infant

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2806045

[Quantess]

57. Aha.

Well in any case, now the gun humpers can see that people have a lot to criticize about this numbskulled mother of a 7 month old baby, as well.

[JI7]

24. there were some women that died when a limo caught on fire

so we should get rid of laws against drunk driving or any regulations involving driving, cars etc.

[HappyMe]

28. This is a story about a

drowned baby. Any comment on that? At all?

How the fuck does drunk driving (limo driver wasn't drunk) and car fires relate to this?

[JI7]

35. ok, i read the above comment and thought it was in relation to TSS trying to make

a point about guns. but i see the dates were wrong.

yes, this story is sad and the mother just sucks and i wouldn't be surprised if the baby had been abused before either. glad she was charged.

[HockeyMom]

30. I worked with a special needs boy

whose mother left him in the tub when he was 3 while she talked the phone. He almost drowned, but lived and was brain damaged. His mother was charged and his father (they were divorced) sought and was granted custody.

Very sad. He was a normal child before this "accident". Kuddos to his Dad.

[Common Sense Party]

32. That is horrible. The son is lucky, though, to have that kind of dad.

[Blue_Tires]

44. Sad story, but a couple of questions:

How did the salesman know the baby was just put in the bath just before he arrived? Did it just come up in casual conversation? And if he was truly concerned, why the hell didn't he SAY something??

[Common Sense Party]

48. I don't think he did KNOW. He heard some things, sort of wondered, and it seems like

it took a while to put two and two together.

I agree that he should have SAID something, if it had dawned on him early on.

[JI7]

51. he was trying to sell her something so felt he shouldn't intrude

or try to suggest anything negative about what she is doing. but yeah, it would have been better if he had said something.

[Deep13]

53. The artcle does not say that.

She called 911 after the salesman left. The kid may have been fine when she went to turn off the water, but dead when she returned after he left.

Also, why do we need her photo, the detail about her credit, and the boyfriend's record? Is this to remind the reader that the mother is a low-life who deserves to be judged harshly. Can't anything just be an accident anymore?

[Common Sense Party]

59. Does not say what?

The photo is there, because news stories often carry a photo of someone who has been arrested for a crime.

[Deep13]

74. This:

"She even came back out and tried to get her credit approved KNOWING that her baby was dead in the next room."

[Common Sense Party]

75. I can put two and two together. Obviously the police can, too.

Why do you think she did not mention the salesman in either of her two stories to the police?

[Deep13]

82. I don't know.

I don't know what she told police or how accurate the article is. She probably did not tell the cops what she had for breakfast, either--that is the cops may not have asked who else was around. Or she was afraid they'd get the wrong idea, being as they were looking for someone to blame, especially if it was an unmarried black woman of small means.

You are jumping to conclusions.

Also, suppose the kid was dead the first time she went back to check. That does not make it a homicide.

[kiva]

87. Leaving a seven month old baby in the bath alone.

An accident? Stupid and irresponsible.

[99Forever]

61. Okay, a very irresponsible parent.

Charge her as the law indicates.

Now, precisely what is your political point in posting this?

[Electric Monk]

62. Their point is the same as their favorite DU Group. RKBA

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=181857

[Common Sense Party]

63. Every post here has to have a political motive?

Interesting.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

67. yes, it's the general discussion section of a political website.

[Common Sense Party]

68. And every post here has a political aspect to it?

You cannot be serious.

[Go Vols]

88. yes

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022650692

[99Forever]

83. This is a political website.

In case you weren't aware.

[Common Sense Party]

89. Yes, and there are plenty of posts about lots of things, political and otherwise,

since you haven't noticed.

If you're in such a snit that I have posted something non-political, please feel free to search the TOS and if you find I have violated some heretofore unknown law of DU (I'll save you the trouble, I haven't), feel free to alert on my OP and ask the jury:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=termsofservice

[99Forever]

90. Oh good grief...

... just a little over the top defensive, are we? Did I say anything about "violating the TOS"? If you don't have the strength of character to own the point you are trying to make, it's no skin off my teeth.

What's really funny, is that you think you are fooling ANYONE.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

65. sad but nothing a law could prevent

unlike preventable deaths from firearms

[Common Sense Party]

69. Is there a law that can prevent negligent deaths from firearms?

[life long demo]

79. The baby was 7 months old

The mother should have not left the baby alone in the bathtub PERIOD! Getting FIOS is not as important as the baby. The mother is responsible for this baby's death and she should be held accountable.

[Xithras]

80. The mind can do strange things when something like that happens.

When I was a teenager, a woman who lived down the street from me drove her car up to the elementary school to pick up her youngest child and watched as he was hit and killed by another car while crossing the parking lot. She never got out of the car. She just sat there, until the police and EMT's pried her out, mumbling that she couldn't leave yet because she still had to pick up her son.

The human mind reacts in odd ways when exposed to something that horrific. One of the more common is for it to simply shut down and deny the reality of what it's seeing.

[Marrah_G]

84. Sad story

The mother sounds like she is not all there.

[pintobean]

86. What a seriously fucked up comment

You're talking about a 7 month old baby. Was that suppose to be humor?