A recent string of cases involving parents leaving children in unattended cars has many parents asking for clarity on just what they can and cannot do.
In the last month, Channel 2 Action News covered cases of kids in hot cars in Cobb, Clayton, Fulton and Gwinnett counties.
Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh talked to a
Channel 2 learned there is no specific statute that outlines when it is or isn't OK to leave a child alone in a car. A lot of this should be governed by common sense, but one prosecutor
"If you leave a child in a car regardless of their age and something bad happens to that child, there's going to be an inquiry by the government," said Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter.
It’s a risk a parent or caretaker assumes and if something could go wrong and you could find yourself at the center of an investigation.
Porter
"What we have are the general criminal statutes about cruelty to a child or homicide and those are the ones that are applied to factual situations as they arise," Porter said.
There's no age limit; there's not cutoff, but Porter said it's all based on the idea of reasonableness.
Porter said often a parent’s decision appears completely unreasonable. In the past month alone, Channel 2 has covered several instances of parents leaving young children alone in cars in dangerously hot conditions from Gwinnett to North Fulton to Clayton and most notably, the death of 22-month old Cooper Harris in Cobb County.
Police charged his father with felony murder, claiming he left his child on purpose.
"There's some of them there's no explanation for and those are usually the ones that get charged," Porter said.
He says it would be very difficult to define a law surrounding the issue and ultimately, he says it would be up to a jury to decide if a parent facing charges is guilty.
WSBTV
