Baby Dies in Bucket of Mom's Vomit

[Herman Munster]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/09/22/D8KA41080.html

A baby died after rolling off a bed and falling into a bucket of her teenage mother's vomit at a homeless shelter, police said.
The mother, Savarin DeJesus, 18, was charged with criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child, and could get five years behind bars.

The young woman trembled and wept as she faced a judge Friday. "I loved my baby. I want you to know that," she said.

Authorities said DeJesus spent the evening of Sept. 15 downing gin and smoking cigarettes and then returned before dawn to the shelter where she lived with the 4-month old girl, Niah. DeJesus threw up into a bucket of cleaning solution next to her bed, then passed out on the bed, clutching Niah's legs, authorities said.

When she awoke about 10 hours later, she found the baby with her head in the bucket, which contained about six inches of liquid, according to court papers.

[Liberal Veteran]

1. What a terrible tragedy.

My heart breaks to hear this kind of thing.

[MadMaddie]

2. Reading this just pisses me off....perhaps she should have

used protection, or maybe made another decision....because this child never had a chance....

I don't have much sympathy for the mother she should be prosecuted...

[seabeyond]

3. of course.no sympathy. death. put her head in a bucket of vomit

that will show her

i have sympathy, my stomach wrenches hearing about what that baby experienced and makes me sick. and my heart is saddened for the young girl that will forever remember waking up to that baby in that position, dreaming the horrors for the rest of her life for what she did.

good thing we have a god that is in all our hearts, knows and sees all and is able to feel and see the pain of others with tears.... instead of dependent on those that proudly and righteously feels NO sympathy what so ever for this girl

i cry

[NashVegas]

7. The Tragedy of Poverty

Poor people do stupid things. I'm speaking from first-hand experience.

When you're overwhelmed by trying to feed, shelter and clothe yourself and your kids, learning how to create and maintain a healthy home where people can thrive isn't on one's list of priorities.

So now, apparently, stupidity is a criminal offense. As is poverty.

[seabeyond]

13. you are so right

the old republican cry is "pull yourself up by your bootstraps"

if a kid has never been educated, never been taught thru example, never given the breaks, never the opportunities

sure is easy to say, but isnt a reality.

[Vidar]

15. Doesn't work with paper-thin rotten leather for bootstraps.

[Horse with no Name]

22. After experiencing MORE than my share of vomit

as a nurse, most of it isn't liquid enough after a fashion to drown someone. And it will also thicken up as it sits and the food in the stomach contents absorb the liquid.
However, perhaps the cleaning fluid was what killed the baby, but that doesn't make quite as nice of a story.
And perhaps if the baby had rolled out of bed and hit those hard concrete floors in the shelters, it might have died as well.
I think if people would realize that if the only place they lay claim for the night is where they lay their head, then it is understandable that this might have happened anywhere. If she had an affordable home, then the baby might have had his own crib. This terrible tragedy wouldn't occurred.
What if you take the night of boozing it up and simply said she had the flu and was vomiting? Would this make it any more palatable to people who simply want to demonize hopelessness and poverty.
What this girl did isn't any different than what many of us have done in our youth (and indeed into our older years), however, it is the difference in having a "pot to piss in"...or not. Most of us have had a place to throw up that was a little better than her circumstance.
The real crime is the poverty that this young woman lived in and the fact that many in our country refuse to face that fact.

[Arugula Latte]

24. Rich people do lots of stupid things, too.

It's just easier for them to avoid tragic consequences, usually.

[sandnsea]

27. And rich people never do stupid things

:eyes:

This is a pure tragedy. This is really no different than a child drowning in a swimming pool, yet somehow when that happens we rarely get the blood alcohol included in the story.

[MadMaddie]

10. I am the most sympathetic person you will ever know...

but the mother was 18 and she had a responsibility to take care of the child...she chose to have the baby and with that means not going out and getting drunk....

<snip>
instead of dependent on those that proudly and righteously feels NO sympathy what so ever for this girl
<snip>

My sympathy and my sadness is for the dead child...who didn't have a chance to live.

The mother sadly will have to live with the consequences for what she has done...and perhaps she will lead a productive life...

[Sapphire Blue]

25. seabeyond, thank you for sharing your loving heart with us.

:hug:

[ikojo]

9. She's 15 and probably knows NOTHING

about birth control. If she lives in a homeless shelter the MAN who knocked her up probably said he'd be there for her and the baby and promised a whole bunch of stuff to get into her pants. I don't think I'd lose the bet if I bet the father is over 18.

[tammywammy]

19. No, the mother's 18 with a 4 month old child

"The mother, Savarin DeJesus, 18, was charged with criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child, and could get five years behind bars."

"Authorities said DeJesus spent the evening of Sept. 15 downing gin and smoking cigarettes and then returned before dawn to the shelter where she lived with the 4-month old girl, Niah."

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/09/22/D8KA41080.html

Maybe you misread, it happened on Sept. 15.

[Bucky]

20. 18, not 15. Not that it matters. She's tragically foolish and her child

paid the price for that. There's certainly a whole web of problems in her background because she didn't have a "village" to help raise her when she was younger and making terrible choices. Unquestionably she's an alky, too, which is yet another untreated disease in this situation. I have nothing but tears for this.

[mia]

4. A nightmare.

I'm sorry for the alcoholic mother,too. She'll suffer for the rest of her life.

[cigsandcoffee]

6. Maybe she won't, though.

She could well be a sociopath, and feel pretty much nothing. You just can't know.

[cigsandcoffee]

5. I didn't think homeless shelters accepted people while drunk.

Sounds like this one dropped the ball. It sounds like DCF really should have been keeping a better eye on that poor kid, as well.

The mother doesn't sound at all like she had the tools - mental or monetary - to handle a child.

[OzarkDem]

8. No transitional housing for women

its a disgrace.

I checked our area homeless shelters this week - we have 10 cancer patients, 3 of them breast cancer patients, in our local homeless shelters.

These aren't people who are dysfunctional, they're just poor and sick. Can't work - you got no home.

[dogday]

18. While the rich sit on their gold toilets

and use their gold fixtures... Ya know I don't mind people having wealth, only that they squander it, and they could do so much for people who are in these positions...

[flvegan]

11. What a bullshit sensationalist headline

This baby didn't die in a bucket of mom's vomit. This baby died in a bucket of cleaning solution slightly diluted by mom's vomit. Oh, but it wouldn't get so many clicks if it said "Baby Drowns in Bucket of Chemicals" now would it. Fucking stupid media. Exploit the mom, exploit the baby...but hey, you raised an eyebrow. Fucking predators.

This poor child had nobody watching her. She's dead because of it. The mother was negligent. Cleaning solution, water...anything 6 inches deep in a bucket should be anywhere near an infant. The mother does deserve the charges, but the reporter/paper should be damned ashamed.

[MadMaddie]

12. flvegan I agree with you on both points....

[VOX]

14. Any "news" source that links to Drudge and Fox is going to do this....

It's ugly and irresponsible, and is designed to foster yet more contempt for the homeless.

[MadMaddie]

16. And sadly that is the true crime isn't it....the richest nation in the

world with a homeless rate going up every day......

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. This is just horrific

I just read this story on a message board dominated by repukes. Their replies are too nasty to copy here. Proves once again they have no hearts.

[tammywammy]

21. I only hope that the child died quickly

What a horrific way to die. I pray the child didn't suffer. :cry:

I hope they find out who supplied the mother with the alcohol.

How horrible.

[qanda]

23. Five years behind bars sounds kind

Compared to what that baby had to endure. This woman was 18 years old. She was not a child, there are 18 year olds dying in Iraq right now. She made bad choices and to excuse her behavior as a consequence of being poor is a slap in the face to every poor person who has worked hard to improve their circumstances and make a better life for themselves and their children.

[angstlessk]

26. Where the FUCK is a CRIB for a 4 monrth old baby? With more and more

families becoming homeless shelters need to provide cribs for babies. Had this baby had a safe crib this baby would be alive now. She should sue the shelter for not providing a crib for the baby.