Mother charged after 1-year-old son died in Hurricane Florence

[groundloop]

Source: CBS News

MONROE, N.C. -- The mother of a 1-year-old who was swept into floodwaters created by Hurricane Florence has been charged in the boy's death. The Union County Sheriff's Office said in a statement posted on its Facebook page that 20-year-old Dazia Ideah Lee of Charlotte is charged with involuntary manslaughter and driving on a closed or unopened highway.

"The tragic death of this child and the circumstances surrounding this case are heartbreaking," Sheriff Eddie Cathey said in the statement. "We continue to pray for all those suffering as a result of this child's death. However, after a very thorough investigation and taking all facts into consideration and applying the law, we feel that these charges are appropriate."

Authorities said the water from a rain-swollen creek pushed Lee's car off the road and left her stuck in a group of trees on the night of Sept. 16. Lee said she was able to get Kaiden Lee-Welch out of the car, but the water caused her to lose her grip.

<snip>

Lee told news outlets she wasn't from the area and was unfamiliar with the roads. She is due in court Nov. 20.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mother-charged-after-1-year-old-son-died-in-hurricane-florence-2018-10-30/

---

IMO those charging her are heartless bastards.

[RobinA]

1. That's Awful

We're well on our way to criminalizing all behavior that leads to a tragic result.

[DURHAM D]

2. Monroe, NC is the home of hateful bastard Sen. Jesse Helms. nt

[TexasBushwhacker]

3. Surprise! She's black!

There are white parents who let their kids fry in hot cars that weren't charged like this.

[violetpastille]

6. Oh no.

That poor kid. Only 20 years old.

I hope that the jury will be empathetic.

[raccoon]

7. And plenty of parents who carelessly leave guns around where kids can get hold of them, and the kid

shoots himself dead accidentally...and the parents arent charged.

[RobinA]

29. Here on PA

Parents are charged for the kid getting a gun and for leaving the baby in the car on a hot day.

[Laffy Kat]

9. Why did I already know that? nt

[marble falls]

4. Jeez Louise. The absolutely wrong case to make an example of. What are they thinking?

[cstanleytech]

10. Its probably due to her allegedly ignoring the road closed signs and

if they have evidence she did that then it potentially becomes negligent homicide.
Her best tactic in this case if she did do that would probably be to try and strike a plea deal.

[marble falls]

19. Happen all the time here in the Hill Country. Visitors and new residents ...

do not get how little water, only up to the bottom edge of the rim about six inches, it takes to wash someone off the crossing and into deep water. The one I think truly need arresting are locals who thing their off-road set ups are invincible. They do get billed for their rescues and the police will arrest them if they drive around a sitting black and white, the cops will knock a window out dragging them from their vehicles even if they didn't make it to the water.

In 2007 we had two high school-ers washed away from crossing the creek that runs in our backyard (up 18 ft), they never found one of their bodies or the Jeep, the thought being they went into the lake about a mile downstream. We missed getting flooded by about six feet, the water was running about 20 ft from the house.

[cstanleytech]

20. Aye its sad all around.

People think it could never happen to them and thus they make foolish choices but any flooding is nothing to sneeze about and its why I usually stay home when the weather will be that bad as just about anything can wait until after the rain and flood conditions have subsided.

[marble falls]

21. I do not mind staying out of a storm, not because I am afraid of the road, but having ...

someone else hydroplane across the 70 and 75MPH two lane roads we have here in Texas is not something is I want to deal with.

[cstanleytech]

22. Driving a 4x4 or something large? Just wondering because I am in a tiny Ford Focus so for me

its an issue of I am not that crazy LOL

[marble falls]

23. I have a nicely kept 2006 Ford Freestyle and I love it to death, it'll hydroplane a liitle too ...

easily but backing off the pedal a little almost instantly gets it back in line and you can feel it grab the road. My wife has a new KIA Sportage, but if I had it to again a six cylinder makes better sense than the four it has. Both cars handle snow really well. I think the right tires make a big difference.

The Focus is a nice enough car, just too little. My Freestyle reminds me of a husky station wagon, its got a 400 mile range on the hi-way and rides like a charm. It tells me when to change the oil and when to fill up.

I love that Freestyle. 130,000 miles and rides like new.

[cstanleytech]

24. Nice. We are looking at seeing if we can budget in a new Kia though we are looking at either a

Rio or a Soul depending on the price.

[marble falls]

25. We had two other KIAs and they are well built, dependable and realatively cheap...

Saw a 2018 KIA Sportage on the road to Temple last week and it is a sharp looking vehicle, not so Jeepy looking as ours.

A couple of our friends have Souls and in spite of the slightly weird look (to me), they like them just fine. I think the Rio is a nice looking ride. The other KIAs was an Optima that people thought was a BMW because of the pearled paint and how sharp it looked, an a '98 Kia 3 that we gave to our son in 2001. Small but at 6'2" he still had plenty of room. Took him four years to wear it out. A record for him.

[cstanleytech]

31. Our focus has 220k and its only a 2012 but since its our only vehicle it has to be used to get

everyone to and from work as well as other places and thats why we are looking at a Kia.
I wish they had mass transit here but its completely non existent and no way in hell can we afford a cab or uber.

[marble falls]

32. You sure got your dollar out of that Focus! Long miles on a well maintained car is ...

money in the bank! Plus the young folks like Focus because it can be tricked out cheap with a new chip, a trick exhaust and tires and rims.

I love taking a bus or train. But cheap energy keeps mass transit a dream. I'd take a jitney to the local towns or Austin if there was one.

[cstanleytech]

33. Aye but we wont be buying another one due to a combo of Ford having numerous transmission issues

with them which we had to shell out 1k of our own money to fix when it finally hit ours plus they are not going to be importing them anymore into the US.

[marble falls]

34. I thought that Ford were keeping four 'F' cars besides their trucks and that Focus ...

was one of them? 1k on a high mileage car seems reasonable. I think looking at Kia is a good strategy, it certainly worked well for us.

[cstanleytech]

36. Nope, they announced they wont be importing them and blamed the tariffs.

Personally I suspect the real reason is the problems with the new type of transmission they were using in them plus the car got a rep as the least reliable for its size class vs all the other automakers comparable vehicles.

[marble falls]

37. Its a shame they screwed up a popular low priced car. Again.

[LoveMyCali]

41. I've had both a Rio hatchback and a Soul

which I'm still driving. I love the Soul. The Rio was fun to drive but I live in upstate NY and it was terrible in snow. I would be happy to get another Soul when the time comes.

[xor]

39. Marble Falls, aye?

I bet that event you're talking about took place the same time I had a scary situation around Lake Travis near Volente. I was new to the area and decided to drive around to check things out during that heavy rain. Passed over a bridge that seemed fine and maybe drove 15 minutes before deciding to head back (didn't know where I was going and didn't have a GPS at the time) On the way back the bridge I crossed pretty much turned into a river. I had enough sense to not try to cross it, and luckily someone who driving out showed me another to get where I needed to go.

[marble falls]

40. 2006 or 2007. I lived in Arizona long enough to know not to cross a wet dry-wash ...

sometimes they flood from rain that fell an hour before 20 or 30 miles away and its sunny not a cloud in the sky where the flooded wash is.

You have the makings for a survivor. Keep your feet dry and your car out of the drink!

[PatSeg]

5. Seriously?

That is insane.

[cstanleytech]

8. I am not surprised that she is facing criminal charges if she ignored the signs about the road being

closed but hopefully the court will be merciful if she is convicted given that she did lose her child.

[Hortensis]

35. Yes. Laws are enforced to act as deterrents.

By far most people who foolishly and unnecessarily put relatives' lives on the line this year did not cause tragedy, but all should not have done it and this is for those like them.

This is hard, and I only hope enforcement has nothing to do with skin color, but isn't the tragedy that makes our hearts ache for this poor mother and baby.

[libdem4life]

11. She's the Only One??? Hardly think so. She's black.

Colin K. and other united sports stars...we salute your mission using your popularity to expose this racial travesty that happens day in and day out. Blessings.

[jmowreader]

12. If she was white the cops would say she's suffered enough

[RobinA]

30. In My Area

they’ll pretty much nail anybody, race not determinate. There was actually a whole article about jamming up mothers who leave kids on the car when they run into a mini mart.

[Glimmer of Hope]

13. My gawd. I think she is suffering enough. I can't imagine her pain.

[KWR65]

14. In Florida it is a crime to die in an accident, but legal to shoot a person dead on the street.

Thoughts and useless prayers.

[GulfCoast66]

15. What does Florida have to do with this story? NT.

[packman]

16. Enough already - A grieving mother who did a dumb thing

Don't the law enforcement people in North Carolina have better things to prosecute

[More_Cowbell]

17. I don't know how they can be sure she drove around barricades

This story makes it seem like other people might have moved the barricades first, before THEY drove over the bridge. At least, it seems like a possibility.

“I can tell you that the barricades were up there,” Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey said the day after Kaiden was swept away. “Whether someone else moved those barricades and she drove around ‘em, I can’t say.”

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article220806720.html#storylink=cpy

[mercuryblues]

26. people moving barricades

is common during flooding. I would not be surprised if that is the case here.
When we had floods here a truck of out of state workers went into a river because the bridge was out and the barricades were removed. 1 died and they never found out who moved them.

[xor]

38. So no one actually saw her purposefully avoid/move the barricades?

Wonky.

[Scalded Nun]

18. I know I am basically restating the words of the above posters, but

How did I know 5 words into this article that she was not white.

[Demonaut]

28. because you did not hit the link....nice

[Demonaut]

27. as if the pain of losing your child is insufficient punishment