Hooters Mom Charged With Homicide After Toddler Dies in Hot Car

[WarmNCozy]

Hooters Mom Charged With Homicide After Toddler Dies in Hot Car

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

PHOENIX — A woman who found her 17-month-old son dead in her hot, stuffy car after she worked her seven-hour shift as a waitress was arrested Wednesday, police said.

Ashly Duchene, 22, was booked into Maricopa County jail on a felony count of negligent homicide, police said.

Duchene usually dropped the boy off at a day-care center on her way to work, but for unknown reasons failed to do so Tuesday, police Sgt. Joel Tranter said.

Instead, she left her son, Ryan Gallagher, in the car when she arrived at the north Phoenix Hooters restaurant at about 10 a.m., police said. When she returned after her shift at nearly 5 p.m., he was dead.

Efforts to revive the boy by witnesses, officers and firefighters were unsuccessful. Temperatures hit nearly 90 degrees Tuesday, but it would have been more than 100 degrees inside the car, Tranter said.

Duchene told police she walked to her car, unlocked the driver's door, sat in the vehicle and immediately realized she had forgotten she had left Ryan in the back seat.

Officials believe the boy, who was in a car seat, was invisible to people going in and out of the restaurant and a nearby car wash because the car has tinted windows.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,306556,00.html

[Wichita]

I can't find the words to describe how I feel. Disgust, Anger, Disbelief, Rage, Sorrow, How, Why, Pain, Intense heat, Hell, Fear, Panic, Anger again, Dumb, Stupid, Ignorant, Selfish, Immature, Single Mom, dead beat dad, Dead little boy, Suffering, ...Tragedy.... Senseless. None of these can adequately explain my heart....

[Marcia3]

There was a case in the Cincinnati area in August that is eerily similar to this one.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...9050379/-1/all

This woman in Cincinnati was not charged with any crime, even though she left her child in her car all day during a heat wave.

A few weeks ago this situation repeated itself in the Cincinnati area:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...0120028/-1/all

There's been a lot of discussion as to whether or not this second mother will be charged.

[Wichita]

I watched a Fox news report at lunch time that said the police were not inclined to charge the mother until the investigation revealed that the young mother had recently told some of her co-workers that she was tired of raising a baby, and wanted her freedom.....and the father of the child was medically disabled recently after a motorcycle accident. I have no doubt that it was unintentional, but it was definitely negligent. Negligent homicide is a misdemeanor in most places, I have no idea whether Arizona's negligent homicide law is a felony or not. Either way, the young mother's life has just gone down the drain.....

[Marcia3]

Wow, if that is the case, then this sad situation is even more tragic. How could you even live with yourself after something like that? I have no idea...

[WarmNCozy]

My first thought when I read this story was, what was this mother's lifestyle? Was she out drinking after hours, was she so hung over she forgot she had the baby in the car, was she so worried that the father would not be able to help her financially with the care of this child that she mentally tripped out? WHY, WHY, WHY! And then I think about the baby, slowly being "cooked" in that car! And like Wichita, can't find words to describe the pain in my heart for this poor little baby!

He's an angel now! God Bless his little soul!

[andU]

Originally Posted by Marcia3

There was a case in the Cincinnati area in August that is eerily similar to this one.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...9050379/-1/all

This woman in Cincinnati was not charged with any crime, even though she left her child in her car all day during a heat wave.

A few weeks ago this situation repeated itself in the Cincinnati area:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...0120028/-1/all

There's been a lot of discussion as to whether or not this second mother will be charged.

You are right, I followed the first case as close as I could since I grew up near Cincinnat and was familiar with the area.

[Shelley420]

What a sad story. I have heard of quite a few cases like this. I remember on Oprah once, there was a father who was supposed to drop his baby son off at daycare before he started work. His wife usually did this and it was very rare for him to do the dropping off....he forgot. About an hour or so later, someone noticed the baby in the car but it was too late. I cannot imagine how his wife must have felt about this. I don't know if I could have ever forgiven him.

Lets just hope that at least the 'Hooters mom' did not do it on purpose. Even so, it is unforgivably neglectful.

[Jo_Momma_82]

If she was used to taking the kid every single day to daycare and it didn't occur to her not even once during 7 hr.'s that she didn't stop at the daycare..... then, I do wonder if she saw this as her "easy way out"... accidents happen like this all the time and I bet it's difficult to actually tell when it's an accident and when it was intentional.

[Jo_Momma_82]

2 babies died in hot cars; only 1 arrest

Judi Villa
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 2, 2007 12:00 AM
Ryan Gallagher and Amberlee Elizabeth Brown both died this year when a parent forgot them inside a hot car.

Ryan's mother was arrested. Amberlee's father was not.

While the cases amount to the same tragic action, they highlight the complexities police and prosecutors face in deciding what is just a horrible accident and what crosses the line to criminal negligence.
In Arizona, there is no law that makes it a crime to leave a child unattended in a vehicle. Police decide whether to arrest on a case-by-case basis.

Ryan's mother, Ashly Duchene, 22, was arrested Tuesday after she forgot him in the car while she worked a seven-hour waitressing shift.

"It's a tough decision," said Phoenix police Sgt. Joel Tranter. "Seven hours aggravates it. You're not just momentarily neglectful. You are extremely neglectful."

Inside a vehicle, the temperature can rise about 19 degrees in just 10 minutes.

Over a period of one to two hours, the temperature can spike by as much as 50 degrees. A core body temperature of 107 degrees is considered lethal.

Nationwide this year, 35 children, including two in Arizona, have died after being left unattended in hot vehicles.

Last year, 30 children died, according to the non-profit Kids and Cars. Nearly half were "forgotten" by caregivers.

An Associated Press analysis of 339 such fatal incidents in the past 10 years found that charges were filed in about half the cases.

Officials say there needs to be a circle of discretion that goes into prosecution decisions.

"Kids shouldn't die this way," said Janette Fennell, founder and president of Kids and Cars.

"But I would say leaving a child alone in a hot car unintentionally, knowing your child baked to death, how do you punish somebody more than that?"

Only 12 states have laws prohibiting leaving a child unattended in a vehicle. In two states, it is a crime only if the child is injured or died.

There is no such law in Arizona, although a Tucson lawmaker unsuccessfully proposed one this year. The law would have made it a misdemeanor to leave a child younger than 10 unattended in a vehicle.

Republican lawmaker Marian McClure said she does not plan to reintroduce the bill.

Personally, though, McClure said she believes more parents should face charges when their kids are left alone in vehicles.

"We all are on overload anymore. Every one of us. . . . Now, how you can forget a child is just beyond me," McClure said. "If you prosecute some of them, if you did make an example of some of these cases, I believe we would become more aware."

In Maricopa County, only one person is awaiting trial for the death of a child in a hot car. Giselle Wetzell was baby-sitting an 18-month-old girl in 2003 when she left the toddler in her van for more than an hour.

Throughout the country, there is a lack of consistency in who gets charged, and Arizona is no different.

Two Phoenix women, a mother of five who left her 7-month-old son alone in a van for an hour in 2004 and an aunt who forgot her 22-month-old niece in a car for five hours in 2005, pleaded guilty in the babies' deaths.

Yet a Mesa mother who forgot her 4-month-old daughter in a minivan for three hours while she went to work in 2004 was not arrested in the baby's death.

Neither was Kyle Brown, who forgot Amberlee for nearly two hours after they returned from running errands in June.

The Brown case is still under review, but Chandler police Detective Frank Mendoza said officers "didn't feel that this case warranted arrest for whatever reason."

Phoenix police saw differently with Duchene.

Court records indicate she was an overwhelmed and "mentally disturbed" mother who didn't make her son a priority. A neighbor said she often heard Duchene crying, and, in court papers, police called Duchene's behavior "a gross deviation from the care a reasonable person would observe."

The night before Ryan died, Duchene complained to his father that the boy cried all the time and said she "couldn't do it anymore." The boy's father offered to take Ryan but Duchene declined, saying she "needed to see him every day," the court records say.

Ryan had recently stayed with his maternal grandfather, and Duchene told police she was out of the habit of dropping him off before work. The day before Ryan died, Duchene told police she almost forgot him in the car.

All that played into the decision to arrest Duchene on suspicion of negligent homicide. But Tranter said the seven-hour lapse alone was enough.

"It's just unexplainable to us. How could you do that?" Tranter said. "Seven hours. That's where I think nobody can defend it."
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...bydeath02.html

[Jo_Momma_82]

Woman who left baby in car was abused, neighbor says

Teana Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 1, 2007 12:06 PM
The mother of the 17-month-old baby who died in the car Tuesday was physically abused by her boyfriend, according to a neighbor.

Ashly Duchene, 22, left her 17-month-old baby, Ryan, in her car outside Hooters as she worked her nearly seven-hour shift, according to Phoenix police.

A neighbor said Thursday that Duchene had been attacked both physically and verbally the past few weeks and that she's upset that she didn't get involved sooner.

"I'm angry at myself because I haven't gotten involved," said neighbor Carol Thomas, 44, who often could hear the boyfriend yelling at Duchene.

The boyfriend was heard yelling, "I'm going to kill you" and cursing, Thomas said.

The physical abuse became public when Thomas and a maintenance man saw Duchene get punched in the head and thrown to the ground outside, Thomas said.

Thomas said she hadn't yet talked to Phoenix police, but said she attempted to contact them. Authorities could not be immediately reached to corroborate Thomas' account.

A very private woman, Duchene kept to herself, said Thomas, who lives in a neighborhood where everyone keeps an eye out for one another.

Thomas said she never heard a baby cry, only the sound of the boyfriend physically beating Duchene.

"If only she had gotten some help," Thomas said.

Duchene was arrested about 1:15 a.m. Wednesday on suspicion of negligent homicide in the death of her son and was released at approximately 10:15 p.m., according to the Maricopa County Jail.

Duchene was transported to an unknown location for medical related issues, according to Detective Charles Scubella of the Maricopa County Sheriff's office. She remains under medical supervision by the Maricopa County Sheriff's office as of Thursday morning.

Court records show Clayton Gallagher had spoken on the phone with Duchene for 1 1/2 hours the day before Ryan's death. She told him that she "couldn't do it anymore" and she didn't want Ryan around because he cried so much. She also couldn't stand not seeing him every day and rebuffed Gallagher's offer to take him.

Court documents and police painted a picture of a troubled 22-year-old who did not make her son a priority. But one friend disputed that image, calling Duchene a "wonderful" mother who recently had a lot going on in her life.

Court documents say that Duchene had attempted suicide at least once, and Phoenix spokesman Sgt. Joel Tranter said interviews with family members and close friends revealed that Duchene was an unhappy mother.

Those close to Duchene said she wanted her freedom and did not make the child a priority.

Duchene told authorities that on Monday she almost forgot Ryan in the car but remembered he was there before going to work. Ryan, she said, had been in his grandfather's care for a few weeks and she was out of the habit of dropping him at day care.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...110107-ON.html

[SimplySue]

What a terrible way for that child to die. She should go to jail. It's been said a million times not to do this. People are warned even for their pets for God's sakes.

The fact that she has been telling people she didn't want to mother this child anymore makes it suspicous to say the least.

He's in the arms of angels now. God Bless the little guy.

[Tap Dancer]

Stories like this make me so mad and it happens all the time! Any person who leaves a child or animal in a car deserves to go to jail.

[Maven]

I totally agree with the majority that feel these neglectful parents should be jailed. I find it inexcusable to leave a child in a vehicle. If you are that stupid as to forget you have your baby in the car then you should not be having children. In addition to jailing them, they should be sterilized so that they don't have a chance to do this to another innocent baby.

[RaVeN71806]

Very sad...its BS and shes gonna get caught shes gonna slip up and its all gonna come out...because how can you forget that your child is in the backseat of the car when she is one that takes him everyday and not only that why didn't the daycare call her to ask why or if hes coming in we used to have to do it at the daycare I worked at and its the same for the one my daughter goes too..

[charmaine]

Originally Posted by Shelley420

What a sad story. I have heard of quite a few cases like this. I remember on Oprah once, there was a father who was supposed to drop his baby son off at daycare before he started work. His wife usually did this and it was very rare for him to do the dropping off....he forgot. About an hour or so later, someone noticed the baby in the car but it was too late. I cannot imagine how his wife must have felt about this. I don't know if I could have ever forgiven him.

Lets just hope that at least the 'Hooters mom' did not do it on purpose. Even so, it is unforgivably neglectful.

Yep...And Shelley, we have had a few cases of kids being left in cars here in Oz. I think there was one death. People were leaving their kids in their cars outside of pubs and casinos so they could go gamble. Jerks! I don't even leave my dog in the car...

[charmaine]

Originally Posted by Jo_Momma_82

If she was used to taking the kid every single day to daycare and it didn't occur to her not even once during 7 hr.'s that she didn't stop at the daycare..... then, I do wonder if she saw this as her "easy way out"... accidents happen like this all the time and I bet it's difficult to actually tell when it's an accident and when it was intentional.

Now I don't know 'bout you guys...but my kids are on my mind pretty much 24/7. So, are we supposed to believe that during the entire course of this mothers shift, she didn't once think of her baby and then think 'Oh crap, he is in the car'?? I mean come on!!

[Shelley420]

Originally Posted by charmaine

Yep...And Shelley, we have had a few cases of kids being left in cars here in Oz. I think there was one death. People were leaving their kids in their cars outside of pubs and casinos so they could go gamble. Jerks! I don't even leave my dog in the car...

Yep you are right. I remember when the Crown Casino opened in Melbourne, there were quite a few cases of people leaving kids in cars while they gambled. Pretty unbelievable.

I think about my kids constantly through the day...I can't imagine that this mother did not think about her son for the whole 7 hours of her shift. Plus with her dropping him off every day, how could she just "forget" ....how could anyone think their child is better off dead instead of them just living with the other parent?