Deseret News | Charges filed against mother, son in 4-year-old's death

Reader comments
Charges filed against mother, son in 4-year-old's death

Out-of-the-box | 6:31 p.m. Sept. 16, 2008

They should also charge the parents of the 4 year old for letting such a young child be out in the street unsupervised... That's more negligent than anything else in this case...

In response | 7:57 p.m. Sept. 16, 2008

Out of the box -
If you had read any of the articles or really knew any information, you would know that the child, Cooper, was supervised. His mother was there the whole time. And had to watch the whole incident take place. Next time pay more attention to what your reading before you make your comments!

are you kidding | 8:00 p.m. Sept. 16, 2008

Good to see the Utah school system gave you a good education Out-of-the-box....did you not read that he was WITH HIS MOTHER? You're awesome. Thanks. Why even comment if this is what you have to say? Not even focusing on the fact that a little boy died...just wanting to run your mouth.

Comments continue below

RE: out of the box | 8:25 p.m. Sept. 16, 2008

excuse me!
When you are driving a car in a residential area you are always responsbile to look out for people on the street.
You are always at fault if you hit someone with your car in a residential area.
You are the driver, if you can not handle the responsibiity then do not drive.

karlee | 10:10 p.m. Sept. 16, 2008

The original police reports say the mother was across the street with other parents NOT alongside her son or right behind him. That said, yes she should have done a better job of watching him, but she didn't deserve what happened. I cannot imagine a more horrific thing than to see your child run over. I'm sure if any type of lawsuit was filed, the jury would be asked to assess who was at fault. The sad truth is that if this very young child hadn't been allowed to be in the street, this wouldn't have happened. The defense attornies will point that out to the jury and the parents won't get as much money as if he'd been hit on the sidewalk. Of course she didn't intend for him to get hit, but he did because he was in the street and the driver didn't see him. I happen to believe if she'd been with him, he'd probably would have been seen. That's why we have crossing guards for children who are far older than Cooper was.

Let's see | 11:09 p.m. Sept. 16, 2008

Let's see how the court deals with this case and compare it with the recent case where the niece was driving the aunt's car and the aunt ran away.

There is NO excuse for letting an unlicensed teenager drive! Not to mention no insurance. Both are against the law and certainly contributed to this case significantly more than any "negligence" on the part of the mother.

Anonymous | 12:54 a.m. Sept. 17, 2008

gotta say if i was a juror i'd have to say the parents of the 4 year old were partly to blame. my school district here in cali have crossing guards for all elementary and junior high kids. if they need someone to guard them while crossing, a four year old sure does. watching from across the street is not supervising your kid especially one so little. a fifteen year old shouldn't be driving either. glad they're pressing charges. plenty of blame to go around here. lots of lessons to be learned too. don't let your underage kids drive and don't let your tiny tots in the street. watch them like hawks especially is situations that are so obviously dangerous. if you can't watch them every single second then let them play in your fully fenced backyard or inside your home that you've childproofed to the best of your ability. they deserve at least that much.

Wow | 6:08 p.m. Sept. 17, 2008

Wow, this is heated!

Anonymous | 8:00 p.m. Sept. 17, 2008

I think it gets so heated but there are some of us who are so sick and tired of tiny kids being killed because of the stupidity of adults, whether it's a mother letting her four year old play in the street or a mother letting her unlicensed, underage kid drive or leaving your baby for hours on end in a hot car, or run around on a dock at lake powell without an adult or lifejacket, or get run over by a riding mower, or drown in a pond at the park...

K | 6:31 p.m. Sept. 27, 2008

He began riding his bicycle across the street with mom right there. It's hardly an accident that the mom could have prevented. It also sounds like the parent and child were crossing in the appropriate place. So it's a not a situation of a pedestrian cutting into traffic.

My parents always made us walk our bikes across the street until we were old enough to drive, I'll do the same with my kids.

I also learned decades ago in drivers ed, that it's never the pedestrian's fault. The pedestrian always has the right of way.

Did the mom know the unlicensed driver took the car, why wasn't he with an adult when it happened. Did the 15 year old get sent on an errand by the mom irresponsibly? It is entirely possible he didn't see the child who was riding a bike no doubt low to the ground. While he's still at fault it wasn't a malicious running down.

People shouldn't throw stones at the teen, it doesn't support the grieving family. It makes things more difficult from them.

Anonymous | 8:31 a.m. Sept. 28, 2008

Plenty of blame to go around, more importantly, plenty of heartache and broken dreams.

Anonymous | 4:01 p.m. Sept. 30, 2008

I live out in SS and and my In-laws live 3 houses down from them. The mother let her kid drive the car ALL the time. This was not jsut a one time thing. That mornign the Mother TOLD her son to go to the store to get breakfast for the other kids that morning. Also I wonder why the Father is not being charged, he also knew that the son drove the car all the time. I believe he is a Police Officer though so maybe that explains why he didnt get charged as well.

dream | 1:21 p.m. Oct. 2, 2008

We can post our comments has much as we can, but we all know if we all take time to sit or visit these two family that is going through alot, we all will understand what they are going through. It's not us to say this and that, please let the state of utah take care of this matter. All we do as friends and family is prayer for these two family and let them know we are their for them. I know it's hard for those who have little children and to understand why these things happen. We know why, and maybe this accident will wake-up all teenager driver's that are either ready to get their licences. But I just want to let everyone know that we just need to be supportive and always let these two family know that we are there for them. My thoughts and prayer go out for both family, and hope for the best.

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