Saturday, February 18, 2012

Little Boy Gone

Listening to the news the other morning, I heard about a hit and run accident involving the death of a 3 year old little boy. The news was on, but I wasn't really paying attention until I heard that. I backed it up, not knowing if I had missed part of the story.

I had heard what they knew at that point. A little boy had been pronounced dead after having been hit by a vehicle. No information was available about the vehicle or driver, since there were no witnesses. It happened at 5:15 AM. The story went on to say the child had been playing in the ditch along side the road, when a vehicle swerved into the ditch striking the child.

My mind said, "WHAT?" If there were no witnesses, where did the details come from? And, more to the point, why was a child playing outside, near a road at that hour of the morning and where were his parents when this happened? This was a "breaking" story, hence the sketchy report.

Like most everyone does when a child is involved in such, my heart felt a stab of pain that such a thing had happened. I listened throughout the day as the story unfolded. The state patrol were looking for the hit and run driver, but they had little information to go on. The story came from the mother's boyfriend. There was very little traffic that time of day and no other motorists had come forward.

Today I heard that the boyfriend and the mother had been arrested and charged with murder. There was no accident in the ditch. He had beaten the little boy to death and then made the false statement. The mother was arrested because she admitted that she knew he was making a false statement to the police.

I can't get that little boy out of my mind. The beating was because he wet his pants. How terrified he must have been. Where was his mother when the boyfriend beat her child to death because he wet his pants? The news story did not say. Was she at work? Did she come home to find her baby dead at the hand of someone she thought she loved? Or was she right there, watching, but not intervening on behalf of her little boy who had had an accident.

Either way, why would you help invent a story with this man who hurt your baby? How do you do this? Do you hold your lifeless baby in your arms while you concoct this tale? I cannot imagine. Maybe she was not participating in the manufacturing of the story, maybe she sat there in shock.

Since I am a grandmother, I wonder about the grandmothers of this little boy, now gone forever. About the mother of the young man who beat the child to death. How do you wrap your mind around the horror of the evil thing your child has done? How does any mother come to grips  with horrible acts their children commit? I do not know the answer .......

13 comments:

Brian Miller said...

ugh...i face this reality far too often in my line of work...breaks my heart every time....

Sextant said...

Throw some alcohol and drugs into the mix and anything is possible. What a truly horrific story.

squawmama said...

Such a horrific and sad story... I am so saddened by it. Senseless! I say anyone who could hurt a child should be punished by death themselves...
Donna

Joanne Noragon said...

Getting a big city newspaper, child abuse stories are often on the front page. I used to think it was a case of getting more news sources, faster, than previous generations. Sadly I now realize there are a lot more people who won't take responsibility for themselves.

SkippyMom said...

I am crying, and it is so sad, b/c this sort of thing happens here all the time [in DC].

That poor, poor little boy. God Bless him.

Hugs Kathy, try not to dwell too much on the senselessness. It would drive us bananas.

Teresa said...

so sad. so senseless. the news all over is full of boyfriends (and others) beating children to death for nothing - nothing to us, but causing major acts of rage against them.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

I do not know how any parent could allowe someone around their child who was anything buy loving towards the child........when you are a parent you child comes first always but that was the way I was raised I have always put my children first....

That said I have two sisters who have been involved with men who did not treat their children the way a child should be treated and did they leave said man..........NO
I have never understood why not....

I feel for the family of this little boy his grandparents, aunts & uncles, cousins so many people will be hurt by this........I hope his murderer gets a real punishment and not a slap on the wrist like so many seem to do but claiming they did not realise what they where doing.........there is no excuse for beating a child EVER

joanne said...

last week, in our area, a father took a hatchet to his two young sons age 7,5, then blew the house up with them in it. My mind is numb which is probably a good thing. My heart just aches, how in the world does this kind of thing happen? Where were their guardian angels? where was their God? I will be sickedned by this for a long time to come.

Linda O'Connell said...

These are horrific incidents. In our area a mother beat her infant to death and dumped him in a park, then claimed he had been abducted.

I find comfort in believeing that with the first blow, those innocent babies go into shock (like soldiers on battlefields who don't feel the wounds until later) and wake up in the arms of the angels.

Linda O'Connell said...

Kathy, contact me if you are serious about a publisher who you think would be interested in my pre k projects, please.

Sandi McBride said...

heartbreaking...
Sandi

Jenny Woolf said...

This is horrific. It breaks my heart to hear this. I can't get my head around the amount of cruelty in the world.

And these must have been very, very stupid people, also to make a story up that doesn't sound even sensible, they probably weren't looking after him properly anyhow.

Whitney Lee said...

I can easily remember the battles had over potty training and the frustration I felt, usually at its peak when I was sleep deprived. Still, this was obviously not the bigger issue with this man-I'm sure he was bound to do this and the pants wetting was just the trigger. It makes me wonder about the soul's purpose. It makes me hold my children closer and find gratitude for all the blessings in my life.