A child drowned at a Beaufort hotel. Let the investigation unfold before judging parents
No parent believes it’ll happen to them. Their child dies because of a fleeting lapse in attention.
A father is in a rush to work, forgets to drop his children at day care and leaves them in the car on a hot day. A mother drops her son off at a day care where she never thought he would be harmed.
Maybe such a consequential lapse befell the parents of a 2-year-old who police say drowned in the pool of a Beaufort hotel. Or maybe sinister neglect caused the drowning.
We simply don’t know how the drowning happened as the investigation is still in its early stages. In our ignorance, judgment of the parents should be restrained.
As reported by The Island Packet’s Sofia Sanchez, the 2-year-old boy drowned in a pool Saturday at the Country Inn & Suites after 3:53 p.m., according to investigators. Hotel staff called police and told them that another child, the boy’s 5-year-old sibling, had been wandering around alone. Police found the 2-year-old in the pool. The children’s parents were staying at the hotel and were found by police in their hotel room. Police and the coroner’s office are investigating the drowning, and charges are possible.
Until a decision on charges is made, we have little indication if this was an accident, a mistake or something more nefarious. What we do know is that any child’s death is a tragedy.
Some parents will say “I would never let that happen” as if they can foretell every circumstance that will ever come their way. Some parents will throw accusations with little understanding of the lives and moments of the parents who now are saddled with the death of their child.
That kind of judgment should be replaced by empathy, if not for the parents then for the other child who at such a tender age likely saw a brother’s lifeless body adrift. That empathy can be for the siblings who were taken into state custody, where if they remain have less hope for a sound life.
I saw those quick judgments prove to be nothing but cynical, poisonous thoughts as a crime reporter.
That example of a father forgetting his children in the car was real. When the news broke in September 2021 that investigators were looking into the deaths of two children who died in a hot car, the stream of public commentary was atrocious even before any findings were released. Investigators concluded that the father’s twin boys died because he simply forgot they were in the car. His mind slipped. It was a mistake by a loving father from all accounts. He loved his children the same as any of us who “would never let that happen.”
Even if criminal charges are brought, people are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. Investigations don’t always stop when a charge is brought. Prosecutors can call for further investigation that changes the degree of the charges. Defense attorneys can uncover new, mitigating information.
Are there people out there who harm or kill their children through neglect and abuse? Yes. That is the worst kind of crime. And those people should be punished. If neglect is the case in the Beaufort drowning, the parents should be punished.
Until such neglect or some other crime is proven in the drowning case, we shouldn’t be quick to dole out punishment.
The parents of the dead child are going to live with a lifetime of punishment without our judgment.