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| Joachim De Posada |
By Joachim De Posada
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One of the
worst things that can happen to a human being.
I was part
of a panel on Arrebatados, a television show carried by America TeVe channel 41
in Miami and 24 in Puerto Rico.
The theme
of the program related to what kind of punishment should a parent who forgets a
baby in the car and dies should be given.
I knew and
expected the panel to be in disagreement in regards to what should be done but
the intensity and emotionality of the argument really surprised me.
The case I
discussed during the program was about a Peruvian non US citizen living in
Florida, named Antonio Balta who got a
20 year prison term for forgetting his 9 month old daughter, Veronika, in his
car and she died.
Some
background so that you can better understand the situation.
One horrible
morning, Antonio dropped off his girlfriend, Michelle, at the Gulfstream Park
Racetrack in Hallandale Beach, Florida, where she worked as a waitress and a
horse groomer. The couple planned to
drive north as soon as she finished her shift. Antonio, her 28 year old
boyfriend, told Michelle not to worry; he would take care of all the last
minute errands. AS she got out of his car, she kissed him and her 9 month old
daughter Veronika goodbye.
Once alone
with Veronika, Antonio checked off his pre travel chores such as having the car
washed, saying good bye to his landlord, loading their belongings in the car
and going to a gas station to fill the tank and buy a bag of Fritos and a
Starbucks cup of coffee.
When he
returned to the Gulfstream parking lot around 1pm, March 13, 2004 to be exact,
it was 65 degrees, cool enough for some Gulf stream’s customers to wear light
jackets.
He checked
with Michelle and told her that everything was ready and that when she got out
of work they would head north.
She asked him
what he planned to do until then and he said he had to talk to his boss for a
minute to make sure that his transfer to Saratoga Race Track up north would go
smoothly.
Here is an
interesting piece of information: She warned him not to leave the baby in the
car alone.
Antonio had
taken his daughter inside the track a couple times before and the loud,
flashing slot machines and the bunch of people gathered there had made her cry.
So, mistake
number one, he cracked the front window a little to give the baby some air and
didn’t roll down the window too much because he didn’t want someone to kidnap
the baby. He left the child alone and went inside the race track to look for
his boss.
Bad luck I
guess, because that was the day of the Florida Derby, the track’s busiest day
of the year and his boss, a horse trainer didn’t have the time to see him.
Now, an
important thing he did: He went back to the car to check on the little baby. He
looked through the window and saw her playing happily with her favorite toy, a
pink bunny with the words I love you across the chest. My dear readers, even as
I write this, my eyes get watery for just thinking and writing about this. But
I must continue to make the point in this article. Obviously, this proves that
there was no intent on his part to harm the child.
He then
made a mistake, he went back inside the track and this time he ran into some
friends. As he told them that he was moving north, he placed a few bets, all
under 10 bucks, all on long shot horses he had taken care of in the stables and
thought they were good enough to win although few people thought so. He wanted
to win some extra cash for the trip.
When the
races were over, Antonio said good bye to his friends but they pleaded with him
to hang out just a while longer. This was his biggest mistake. Surveillance
tapes would later show he stayed there for around two hours.
When he
stepped out, he felt warmer, rightly so, since the temperature had risen to 80
degrees. I imagine that at that precise moment a dreadful thought most have
entered his mind because he ran to his car and found his little girl with her
eyes closed, he thought sleeping but no, not sleeping, dead.
He has
spent the last six years in a prison cell decorated with pictures of his little
girl. Even though he knows he was guilty, he expected a lenient sentence when
on the advice of his attorney, he pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter of
a child. Instead he got 20 years, one of the longest, if not longest sentences
in the whole country.
This horrible
situation happens somewhere once a week from spring through fall. Children die
this way more than 30 times a year. In more than 50% of cases, it is the parent
who forgets the child in the car.
According
to kidsandcars.org a Kansas based safety advocacy group, more than 450 children
have died from hyperthermia in cars since the mid 1990’s when safety experts
told parents to move car seats to the back, to avoid the dangers of an accident
or the passenger side airbag harming the child.
I agree
that Antonio has to be punished. But his worst punishment, one that I can’t
even begin to comprehend is having killed your own child.
Sending him
to prison 20 years, has taken him away from his other two children, I don’t
know how close he was to them, but now he definitely is not close to them
because he is locked up. And to keep him there, it will cost one million
dollars to society, paid for tax payers.
What has
been gained with that punishment? Nothing. Just the punishment in itself.
How about
if he was given maybe a couple of years in prison if at all, and ten years or
even 20 years of probation where he reports once a week to a parole officer and
he is given 1,000 hours of community work doing something to help other parents
be more careful with their kids. Isn’t this a much more productive approach?
In Puerto
Rico, I believe the maximum penalty for this crime is three years. In Florida, after Antonio’s conviction, it was
reviewed and is now 5 years. Antonio can’t appeal because he plead guilty to
the charge.
Dr. Cynthia
Galinaltis who left her 21 month old child in the car and died, was convicted
recently on a charge of negligent homicide in Puerto Rico.
Arecibo
Superior Judge Marta Maria Rosario sentenced her to serve one year and nine
months on probation. She of course, could have faced three years in prison.
I agree
with the sentence except for one thing. I believe that besides probation, she
should have received 200 or 300 or 500 hundred hours of community service. A
medical doctor by training, I am sure she could have prepared a lecture or a
training program to help parents avoid this situation or at least create
awareness in the public’s mind about how to avoid this horrible situation.
I was
shocked how some people told me that a parent that does this should be
electrocuted, sentenced to life in prison and some extremists even told me that
the parent should be left inside the car, windows rolled up for the same time
the child stayed in the car.
Even in the
panel that participated in the television program, some thought he should get
life in prison.
I hope that
with this article, I raise some awareness on this situation and somehow help
parents think about how important it is to take measures so that this can’t
happen.
For
example, buying a sensor that warns you if you leave the child inside the car,
just like the sound that you hear when you leave your lights on by mistake.
Placing
your briefcase or purse next to the child, talking to the child so that he or
she doesn’t fall sleep or doing something that will help you remember that you
have your child with you in the car.
You can do
a lot to prevent this from happening. Please, do so.
