But I was Just Gone for a Minute
To the commenter who asked, "Why didn't you call 911?"
Because last year when exactly the same thing happened on West 1oth Avenue (An infant in a van with the sliding door open and no sign anywhere of a parent...) and I immediately called the police, here's what happened.
Before the police arrived about 10 minutes later, the "mother" emerged from a tanning spa with a fashion mag in her hands. I asked her if this was her car and child. She said they were. I told her the police were on their way. She thought I was a public nuisance. She laughed at me.
When the police arrived, one officer stood by me. The other stood with the "mother," and the two of them - the "mother" and the police officer laughed a lot.
I asked them what was so impossibly funny.
A month before this incident, a friend who used to own a plant store down the street had precisely the identical experience - baby in car, no parent, police, much amusement...
Apparently there is something inherently hilarious about irresponsible senseless parents who are born to shop and tan and the crazy lunatic old men who accuse them of reckless child abandonment.
Watch for the new ABC reality show based on this growing trend called "Lose Your Kid, Find a Grumpy Old Man." The early returns from the focus groups say it's a smash run-away winner.
5 comments:
thanks for the update. Dogs locked in cars seem to get better 'protection' than children.
Do a column on this David (or maybe you already have). It goes beyond child safety, it's a general distain for doing the right thing, or following the rules, which seems to be frowned upon in our society. If it inconveniences me, then I won't do it. I mean, you've written about this before -- the car parked under the 'No Parking' sign at the 10th Avenue Safeway, people who go left in front of traffic circles, bicyclists riding on the sidewalk when it suits them and not stopping at stop signs at major intersections, people not paying their transit fares, people walking their dogs off-leash in on-leash areas with no concern for why others are in on-leash areas, people not picking up their dogs poop, etc., etc. It's very much, as you often point out, a 'me first' society.
As far as a child left unattended in a car goes, and as another commenter pointed out, a dog left in a car alone is taken more seriously. That the police laughed at your concern is irresponsible at best.
Mo.
Do a column on this David (or maybe you already have). It goes beyond child safety, it's a general distain for doing the right thing, or following the rules, which seems to be frowned upon in our society. If it inconveniences me, then I won't do it. I mean, you've written about this before -- the car parked under the 'No Parking' sign at the 10th Avenue Safeway, people who go left in front of traffic circles, bicyclists riding on the sidewalk when it suits them and not stopping at stop signs at major intersections, people not paying their transit fares, people walking their dogs off-leash in on-leash areas with no concern for why others are in on-leash areas, people not picking up their dogs poop, etc., etc. It's very much, as you often point out, a 'me first' society.
As far as a child left unattended in a car goes, and as another commenter pointed out, a dog left in a car alone is taken more seriously. That the police laughed at your concern is irresponsible at best.
Mo.
I agree - it is a me-first society, and our bureaucrats & politicians encourage it. Regarding the rampant dogs off-leash problem, the Vancouver park board that does nothing to protect children from dogs roaming in their playgrounds. In fact, they have actually chosen off-leash areas beside childrens' playgrounds, and ignored the complaints of hundreds of people. In essence, the Park Board and staff have chosen dogs over children's safety, especially as over 75% of dog attacks are to kids under 10.
I called Bby RCMP one afternoon a couple of years ago when I spotted a baby alone in a car in the lot at the Brentwood Mall.
They were:
on the scene in a flash
not exactly yucking it up with the "mother" when she turned up.
Not to second guess, but if I were the Grumpy Old Man in your place, Sir David, I would have had badges from each of those VPD members and followed it up with their superiors in a very public manner.
Sunlight the best disinfectant and all that.
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