I think that IF it were a total accident, which it weren't, that he would culpable of some wrongdoing for being a negligent father. As I said, if the law says that criminal negligence is a misdemeanor and thus a monetary fine or very light jail time is appropriate, then that's appropriate.
Something was off from the beginning with me, because people can say all day that "it can happen to anyone", but how many people does it really actually happen to? Not almost. Actually. Why does this thread exist? Because the two cases where it happened in the past few years were rare and alarming enough to bring it to our attention. Most people are decent enough parents to remember they are in fact parents before 7 hours of baby baking takes place.
Jail time is appropriate? Decent enough parent? Yes, I remembered - but I might not have. I was a zombie that day. Dude, you have no fucking clue. You cannot be uber parent 24/7. It is impossible to do, and believe me, I tried. I was so damn paranoid from the day K came home from the hospital, I nearly made myself sick. Parents are human. You will make mistakes. And sometimes a mistake has tragic consequences that a parent has to live with forever. But that's not necessarily criminal and most people recognize that. You wait until you are sleep deprived and going through your days and nights on auto pilot with a new little life in your care and see if you don't screw up a time or two. God forbid anything tragic happen to you, but there will be times when a close call will leave you sleepless for a week. My son pulled away from me in a Target parking lot one time - just snatched free of my hand and ran off between two cars toward the drive lane. And they are fast - holy shit a toddler is fast. I screamed and fortunately the driver saw him and stopped. Was I negligent and deserving of criminal charges? No - but I guarantee you I'm serving a life sentence. That was five years ago and I STILL wake up in a cold sweat dreaming about that and how close I came to losing him.
So best wishes to you atop the lofty heights of your pedestal.
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