I guess I'm somewhat over the shock of hearing about this to post on it...
One night last weekend before I came on-duty for my all-night news gig- 18-month-old Jermain Johnson Jr. had drowned in a bathtub at a residence on KC-MO's East Side.
The KANSAS CITY STAR story on this incident- written by Christine Vendel- can be found here.
The police of course investigated- and- in the course of their interviews found out a teenage girl who was SUPPOSED to be in charge of the several toddlers at the home had left briefly- leaving the youngsters alone.
Then comes the shocker: A 5-year-old girl- who was one of the toddlers left alone at the house- took young Jermain to a bathtub still containing water in it and drowned the boy "because he made to much noise" and "cried too much."
That news shocked not only the entire community- but investigators as well.
Of course there's the standard talk of pressing charges against the teenaged girl who left the youngsters alone in the first place.
But the burning question is: What in the HELL can authorities- no- SOCIETY- do with a 5-year-old murderer?
2 comments:
This thing has hit nationally--msnbc and linked on Drudge.
I can't imagine they will charge the 5 year old--unless kids have really changed there is no way a 5 y/o understands the finality of death. She probably thought he'd wake up after awhile.
The 16 year old? The family leaving someone not fully capable in charge of a bunch of kids? Maybe one or both of those.
Meantime, the family must be evaluated, and monitored for several years ongoing.
I Agree with your last line T.O. about monitoring the family (particularily the 5-y-o).
Remember the old saying (curse)- "May you live in interesting times?"
Seems we are- for dang sure...
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