Dad tows 12 year old on skateboard with his car; kid dies, dad gets 60 days in jail

[proud2BlibKansan]

DECATUR, Ill. -- A central Illinois man has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and 18 months probation for running over his 12-year-old son while towing the boy on a skateboard.

Timothy W. Melvin on Monday said he didn't realize he was pleading guilty to child endangerment. He says he didn't mean to say he knew his son was standing on a skateboard and hanging on to a window of Melvin's car on April 2, 2008.

Melvin says he thought he was pleading guilty to not making his son, Zachary, wear a helmet. Melvin ran Zachary R. Melvin over in the parking lot of a Decatur hospital, and the boy later died of his injuries.

Melvin says his younger son was mistaken when he told police that Melvin had been towing Zachary with the car in a similar way the day before the accident.

http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/774376.html

[konnichi wa]

1. What would be a better punishment... 20 years?

??

[Orrex]

5. Why don't you tell us what punishment would be fitting?

[tabasco]

9. Inform us what you think.

I think this type of recklessness and disregard for human life is depraved.

I think 10 years minimum.

If he had some pot plants in his closet - HE'D BE IN REAL TROUBLE!

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. More than 60 days

[NeedleCast]

2. Similar situation happened to a good friend of our family

They were out at my grandfather's ranch house which has a long, unpaved (gravel covered) road that runs across the 300 acre ranch. One of my dad's friends allowed his eight year old and ten year old to ride on the hood of his truck as he drove through the property (at about 10-15MPH). The eight year old fell off the front of the truck, and his father ran over him before he could stop. Killed him. Very tragic. He didn't get any jail time, but it ruined his life.

[madaboutharry]

3. There is so much about this article that

doesn't make sense.

Ignorance is so dangerous.

[rocktivity]

4. He didn't realize he was pleading guilty to child endangerment?

And he thinks the only thing he did wrong was not have the kid wearing a helmet? He's lucky he wasn't charged with manslaughter!

:crazy:
rocktivity

[Mythsaje]

6. As much as we wish we could

we really can't fix stupid.

[stillcool]

7. just kill him already..

what's jail going to do? Provide more free labor?

[Chemisse]

8. Why jail the guy at all?

In most cases I think any parent who inadvertently kills his or her own child should not be punished. They will suffer agony for the rest of their lives; what's the point in jailing them as well?

[tabasco]

12. Because it's a crime to kill a person through recklessness.

Maybe you haven't heard.

[HamdenRice]

28. This wasn't recklessness

It was negligence. There's a difference.

[cboy4]

29. I agree. I think the door should be left open to incarcerating

parents depending on the circumstances, I just don't know what the point is.

You're right .. the parent will be living in his own personal prison cell of guilt for the rest of his lift. And he'll be reminded at least once a year on the kid's birthday.

[flvegan]

10. Since, according to the kid witness, this was the second time he'd done it

"child endangerment" sounds about right. Frankly, he's probably pretty lucky that's all it is.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

13. Some people should not be allowed to procreate

Here's exhibit A.

[Stephanie]

14. Hickey bobbing - anyone do that?

We used to hang onto the rear bumper and sort of ski in the snow. Of course our parents didn't know about it. This parent is an idiot.

[northernlights]

22. I saw some kids doing it many decades ago

I got out of my car and chased them. Managed to keep up with one of the slower ones and chased him right into his kitchen door, where his parents happened to be standing. I told his parents what he'd been doing. He denied it. They verbally attacked me. I shrugged and said, "Suit yourself. Next time I'll just call the cops."

Seems sort of like a Darwin award if the kid dies as a result of his parent's stoopid. I mean, the gene pool still dies out that way.

[ShortnFiery]

15. IMO, this is a tragic form of "natural selection" - harsh punishment from state not appropriate ...

because the father will suffer intense feelings of guilt for the rest of his natural life. :(

[Dark]

16. I think the fact that he killed his son is punishment enough.

I'm not a parent. But I can see how that could ruin someone's life.

OTOH, if it hasn't ruined him... then he is, as a human, already beyond redemption.

[tabasco]

21. No, it's not. Society should not tolerate such criminal stupidity.

Children deserve society's protection.

Just because someone is a parent is no reason to let them off the hook for criminal recklessness.

[SmileyRose]

25. Stupid is not a crime.

And no parent thinks of EVERYTHING.

My Dad was about the most responsible and decent man you'd ever meet. used to get in the above ground pool cup his hands, let us put a foot in there and he'd launch us way up in the air. No one ever got hurt and we all absolutely loved him for playing with us. But a couple of times Dad didn't realize his own strength and one of the smaller or lighter kids landed closer to the edge of the pool than others might like. If one of us had gotten really hurt would the world be pointing at him and yelling "murderer"?

My mom let us help cook as young as we asked. She'd find us something to do that she thought was safe. When my brother was 6 he absolutely demanded to make the tea. Mom pulled a chair over to the sink and he poured the pan of fairly hot water into the pitcher and began to put more water over the tea bags - Mom was right there. Suddenly here comes the dog being chased by my sister, smacks the chair, knocks Tony off - he hit his head on the edge of the countertop. Cracked skull. 19 stitches and a concussion. Doc said if his head were turned a different angle or if he'd come down just a teeny bit harder he'd be dead. So would Mom be a murderer?

I'll grant you, Dad not realizing hanging onto the pickup and skateboard surfing is pretty far up on the not thinking scale. Some sort of punishment had to be handed out, if only for the poor man's own good - as far as the process of self forgiveness - as if that is going to happen.

[MadMaddie]

17. He did this in a hospital parking lot? WTF?

[Smith_3]

18. Darwin at work. nt

[JVS]

19. This is a serious issue and I hope he is able to have the mistake corrected.

[Dogtown]

20. Being able to procreate

does not make one a parent.

It's a mistake to assume that this man will grieve. *Probably* he will, but some people really do not care about their offspring.

He killed a child due to his lack of parental caution. He should be punished.

[Xithras]

23. Damn. Several years ago my dads neighbor did something similar.

They had a couple inches of snow on the ground, so the dad and son grabbed their quad and were out having fun with it. At some point the kid grabbed a saucer and rope, and the dad pulled him on a high speed run down their driveway (rural area...the driveway was like a mile long). The saucer went wide on a turn, and the 13 year old son went into a tree at about 25MPH.

The dad plead out to the same charge and spent a little time in jail. His wife divorced him, took everything he owned, and threw him out onto the street after he was released.

[JerseygirlCT]

24. I've seen similarly stupid behavior, too -

very fortunately never resulting in death or even bad accidents. But oh my! HOW can adults be so stupid?

It's as if they don't want to be the ones to say no, to stop the "fun". I know someone who has let his under-driving-age child drive - alone at that. On the street - even on the highway! His rationale is that then he'll know how to drive when it's time. IDIOT! There's a reason that the time for learning was set where it was. And younger kids shouldn't be driving, period.

But it's the "parent as playmate" syndrome at work, I'm afraid.

So horrible when it ends that badly.

[Stephanie]

26. A kid I knew in HS was being towed on a toboggan by a pickup on a mountain road

He went over a cliff and into a coma. Never saw him again. That kind of stuff is how we used to amuse ourselves in MT in the winter. Our parents didn't pay the least attention to what we were up to.

[GCP]

27. There's some mighty judgmental people on this board

I should think any punishment you'd want to mete out on this guy will be nothing to to the hell he'll be going through. Losing a child has got to be the single worst thing that can happen to any parent, and when that child is killed because of the parent's own stupidity then in my case, suicide would probably be the way out of that hell.

[Chemisse]

31. Well said.

[Infinite Hope]

30. Reckless, but it's an accident. Our penal system isn't intended to punish or prevent accidents.

The sentence is fitting...he'll already suffer the rest of his life from the loss of his child as a result of his own carelessness. That's penalty enough and he obviously learned from his mistake.

[Ken Burch]

32. I think we've established that this isn't the most observant guy on the planet

He didn't know he was towing the kid AND he didn't know he was pleading guilty to killing the kid?

:eyes:

[Ken Burch]

33. This guy got only two months for killing his kid and he think's they're being TOO TOUGH on him?