Mom Charged In Toddler Heat Death
Relatives Say She Didn't Want Child
POSTED: 5:42 pm MST October 30,
2007
UPDATED: 1:48 pm MST October 31,
2007
PHOENIX -- A mother who left her 17-month-old son in the car for at least seven hours while she worked at a west Phoenix Hooters was charged with negligent homicide in the child's death.Ashly Duchene, 22, was booked after investigators learned she had said she wanted her freedom more than her son.
"We're not saying this was a deliberate act yesterday, but that does give insight to her mindset that caring for her child was not her top priority," Phoenix Police Sgt. Joel Tranter told KTAR.Tranter said family members told detectives that Duchene had made statements that she did not want to care for the child and wanted her freedom."It's also my understanding that other family members, perhaps, had taken the child away from her for brief periods of time," Tranter said. "They had concerns."Police said Duchene had planned to drop off her son, Ryan, at day care before heading to work at the Hooters restaurant near 29th Avenue and Bell Road.Instead, officers said, Duchene went straight to work with the toddler still in the vehicle.Duchene said the boy had recently spent a few weeks out of town with his grandfather and that she had gotten out of the habit of dropping him off before work, according to a Maricopa County Superior Court document released Wednesday.Tranter said, "When she was driving to work, she made a brief statement that she actually looked in her rear view mirror, saw a young child seated behind her in the child seat. Exactly what happened after that, we're not sure."Duchene arrived at work at 10 a.m. and when her shift ended around 5 p.m., she discovered Ryan was inside the vehicle and was unresponsive, investigators said.Efforts to revive the boy by witnesses, officers and firefighters were unsuccessful.Authorities pronounced the child dead.The high temperature in Phoenix on Tuesday was 89 degrees. Readings inside the vehicle reached upwards of 110 degrees, authorities said.The court document said Duchene told investigators that she also forgot Ryan was in her car the day before he died, but remembered him when she arrived at work.Later that same day, Duchene complained to the boy's father, Clayton Gallagher, that she "couldn't do it anymore" and that all Ryan did was cry. When Gallagher offered to take Ryan, Duchene declined, saying she needed to see her son every day.Police said the windows of Duchene's silver Honda Civic were tinted, making it difficult for anyone to tell a child was inside."She's probably feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt," said Michelle Fritz, a crisis counselor with the Phoenix Fire Department."She's probably nervous about what her parents are going to think, about what the public is going to think," Fritz said.Michael Feegan was at the scene and said he was shocked."There's no way you can leave a baby inside a car all day at work and just forget your baby like that," Feegan said.Amy Robin was in a crowd who gathered outside the restaurant. She said the mother should face charges."We're parents ourselves and we never once left our baby in the car," Robin said. "I think that's cruel."A similar case happened three years ago when a Mesa mother left her four-month-old in a mini-van in the parking lot of her Ahwatukee workplace after she forgot to drop the child at day care. The baby died at a hospital. The mother was never charged.Nationwide, 32 children die every year after being left unattended in motor vehicles, according to researchers at San Francisco State University.The court document said Duchene had once attempted suicide.A request to interview Duchene was not immediately answered by police.The restaurant was closed Wednesday and was holding counseling sessions for employees."Our company is deeply saddened by this terrible tragedy," said Melanie Gulmetti, a regional marketing manager for Hooters. "Our thoughts are with the mother and her family. We are cooperating fully with authorities."ELSEWHERE ON KPHO.COM: A thief crawled in air-conditioning ducts, stole four puppies worth $9,000 and left a trail of blood at the Tucson crime scene, police said. CLICK HERE for details. MORE SLIDESHOWS: From the bizarre to the tragic to late-breaking news, visit the KPHO.com slideshow section and click away! CLICK HERE for images.
|
