Not Again

ClassyLady · #1 08-13-2002, 09:34 AM

LEFT TO DIE IN BACK SEAT
TOT SUCCUMBS TO BRUTAL HEAT
By MARK ANGELES
angelem@phillynews.com

A20-MONTH-OLD Southwest Philadelphia girl died yesterday when her grandfather apparently forgot about her and left her in his closed car for several hours in 90-plus-degree heat.

Sasha Fogle, who would have turned 2 in December, apparently succumbed to the sweltering heat, police said.

Still visible last night in the back seat of her grandfather's otherwise pristine white Ford Taurus was a sandwich bag that once held crackers and a nearly empty baby bottle that appeared to have contained apple juice.

Crumbs that Sasha generated littered the cloth upholstery where the girl passed out and died.

The car that routinely took Sasha to her baby-sitter every weekday morning instead became a torrid tomb, apparently because her grandfather, Calvin Howell, simply forgot about her.

The temperature reached 96 degrees outside, according to the National Weather Service. The temperature inside the car probably exceeded 140 degrees.

"This is obviously a huge tragedy," said Police Capt. Thomas Lippo, of the department's homicide division.

No charges have been filed, Lippo said.

Lippo said Sasha, her mother, Aiesha, and her grandmother piled into Howell's car parked near their home on Ithan Street near Kingsessing Avenue about 6:40 a.m.

Howell, 54, dropped off his wife and daughter on Baltimore Avenue near 58th Street, so they could catch for work.

His next stop was to be Sasha's baby-sitter on Alden Street in Southwest Philadelphia.

But, Lippo said, "For some unknown reason, he forgot to drop her off and drove straight to work."

Nearly seven hours later, Howell left work as a city sanitation worker at 63rd Street and Eastwick Avenue, still not noticing his now-motionless, unconscious granddaughter in the back seat.

Howell went to an auto-repair shop to make an appointment for routine maintenance to his car, then drove back to the Ithan Street home he and his family.

It was then, about 2:25 p.m., that he discovered Sasha's lifeless body in the back seat.

She apparently had passed out, Lippo said. She was not in a car seat, he added.

Howell then called a neighbor who lives two doors from him and who is trained in CPR. She tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the baby until a medic unit arrived, said the neighbor's father, who requested anonymity.

He said his daughter, whom he declined to identify, had called him, clearly upset over the child's death.

He described Sasha's parents and grandparents as "a real good family."

Lisa Sanders, who identified herself as Sasha's stepmother, described her as "a good, sweet baby."

Howell, who is cooperating with police, called an ambulance, which rushed her to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where she was pronounced dead at 2:51 p.m. of heat-related causes.

A nurse at the hospital called police.

According to Lippo, the police are "going under the assumption" that Sasha's death was an accident.

"That's all we have right now," Lippo said. "We're at the preliminary stages of this continuing investigation. All we know is it's heat-related."

Police said Sasha's mother had also been questioned.

Lippo said an autopsy by the medical examiner will determine the cause of death. The results of the autopsy, as well as the results of his investigation, will be handed over to the district attorney's office.

"It will be up to them to determine whether charges will proceed or not," Lippo said.

About four years ago, 21-month-old Angelika Gaines died after she was accidentally left overnight inside her parents locked van for more than seven hours during a July heat wave.

Her parents, the Rev. David Gaines and his wife, Yvette, of West Oak Lane, were not charged.

cleopatrajones · #2 08-13-2002, 09:59 AM

Ok, maybe I'm the crazy one, but how do you leave your child or grandchild in the car and forget about them. I just don't understand. Don't you notice that something is missing? I don't have children, but I do have anxiety and (if I had children) I know I would have to know where my children were at ALL times. All of these deaths are truly horrible and these children and their families are in my prayers.

nikki1920 · #3 08-13-2002, 10:00 AM

HOW THE H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS (LOL) DO YOU FORGET A CHILD IN THE CAR?! AND THEN GET BACK IN AND DRIVE OFF??!!!!!!!!!

HumbleHeart · #4 08-13-2002, 11:49 AM

Just as a person could forget anything else, they could forget a child. It's unfortunate, but it does happen. What if the child had fallen off to sleep and was very quiet. Maybe her grandfather was preoccupied/stressed about other things. Never looks back in the car....never thinks twice about not having had dropped her off. Off to work he goes.

I have known of several parents who were preoccupied and have driven to work to only realize their children are in the car with them and they are miles from the babysitter where the child should've been dropped off. We are ALL imperfect people.

In this incident you can blame the grandfather, but I am sure he blames himself far more than we can ever imagine. No one wants to see their grandchild hurt....and definitely not at their hands.

Not to place blame elsewhere, but how come the babysitter never checked to see why the child never arrived? how come this child was not in a car seat if this is the car she rides in every morning?

While this is a tragedy, it was also apparently an accident. It is the intentional atrocities that are not only unforgiveable but an abomination.

Miss. Mocha · #5 08-13-2002, 01:27 PM

I find it very difficult to believe that something like this, "Could just happen". I don't care if the child is asleep. That's no excuse to me.

I am a mother and I HAVE NEVER forgotten my child in the car, on top of the car, in the mall or otherwise. I have never forgotten my husband's nieces or any of my friends' children. There is an item in the car called a REAR VIEW MIRROR! Use it. There are times in the car when you need to look into or reach into the backseat.

"It just happens" is not a viable excuse to me. It doesn't "just happen". If it just happened, those of us who don't live in Siberia or Alaska might have possibly been casualties.

What about routine. There have been times when I haven't had my daughter with me and I've been making my way to her drop off point...out of routine. Not only did this man forget his grandchild, he forgot that he stops at the babysitters house practically everyday? How do you forget that? Does he forget to go to work? OR to go home after work? Was this his first time dropping little Sasha off?

oneinamillion · #6 08-13-2002, 02:15 PM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by HumbleHeart
[B]Just as a person could forget anything else, they could forget a child. It's unfortunate, but it does happen. What if the child had fallen off to sleep and was very quiet. Maybe her grandfather was preoccupied/stressed about other things. Never looks back in the car....never thinks twice about not having had dropped her off. Off to work he goes.

. I can't even get with this. I don't care if he was driving in a limousine and couldn't see the back seat...there is no excuse. Whatever was on his mind should have been last compared to a child. Even though I don't have children when I attempt to open my car door I can always see the back seat and what is in it.

No excuse this doesn't just happen. What is the man 180 years of age?

CrimsonTide4 · #7 08-13-2002, 03:47 PM

POO BUTT AZZ MOFO!!!!

And the ones who left their kid overnight -- that means someone does not go in and A. kiss the kid goodnight/tuck in/say bedtime prayers & B. check on kid during the night. They are POO BUTT AZZ MOFOS tooooooooo.

I really want to, pardon me,

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! !

mccoyred · #8 08-13-2002, 04:57 PM

...the article did say her grandfather. Even though he was still working, he could have some memory problems. There is enough blame to go around. I just can't beleive that after the other recent tradgedies people aren't more careful.

MS.REVLON · #9 08-13-2002, 06:46 PM

Grandfather Charged In Heat Death Of Toddler

4:39 p.m. EDT August 13, 2002 - Police said Tuesday that they have charged Calvin Howell in the death of his 2-year-old granddaughter after he allegedly left her in his car for nearly eight hours during a heat wave.

The autopsy report confirmed that the girl died of heat stroke.
Howell has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment of another person.

Howell reportedly left the family's house in the Kingsessing neighborhood of Philadelphia at about 6:40 a.m. with his wife, daughter and toddler Sasha Fogle.

Captain Thomas Lippo says the 54-year-old grandfather then dropped off his wife and daughter to pick up a trolley for work, and was supposed to take Fogle to a baby sitter.

Instead, he drove directly to work.

Howell worked until about 1:20 p.m. and then went to a car dealership to make an appointment for maintenance. He arrived back at the home at about 2:25 p.m.

Lippo says that's when Howell noticed Sasha in the back of the car.

Police say the grandfather, the child's mother and other family members were being questioned, but no arrests have been made.

The temperature reached 96 degrees Monday.

nikki1920 · #10 08-14-2002, 11:24 AM

I dont buy that he "just forgot". Forgetting a purse, a bag, groceries, yes. A CHILD, HELL NO!!

You mean to tell me, that after eight hours in the heat, the man didnt SMELL anything in his car?!! (Sorry for the graphic). Come on...

BlueReign · #11 08-15-2002, 11:09 AM

I am with MCoyRed and Humble Heart here,

Even though I can't possibly see how one could forget a child in the back seat especially if he normally drops her off every morning, there is such a thing as memory loss particularly for the elderly!

I have 3 children myself and I can't possibly forget they are in the back seat (they make too much dam noise). But there have been times when I have been so weighed down with things on my mind that I have totally forgotten appointments, etc. and twice in the last year I have pulled off without pumping my gas which I paid for

I really feel sorry for this poor grandfather. His mind must have really been going to forget his own grandaughter. We may never know what was on his mind. Let's keep him and the entire family in our prayers.

DeeGeePee · #12 08-15-2002, 11:33 AM

This isn't the first time I've heard this kind of story. Just last summer (I think), this lady down here in maryland dropped her son off, then forgot to drop off the baby and went to work, she came back out at five, still didn't see the baby, and went to get her son, and HE realized the baby was still in there. That is sad. I have a 17 month old, and even when she ISN'T in the car, I think she is, I'm so used to having her with me!! I've been going to the doctor and as I'm getting out I'm thinking, gotta get the baby out, hope she's not sleep so she can walk, only to then remember she's with my aunt. So I don't buy that crap. I understand about mistakes, but its still a pretty hard thing to forget, if you ask me.

tammy- · #13 08-18-2002, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ClassyLady
LEFT TO DIE IN BACK SEAT
TOT SUCCUMBS TO BRUTAL HEAT
By MARK ANGELES
angelem@phillynews.com

A20-MONTH-OLD Southwest Philadelphia girl died yesterday when her grandfather apparently forgot about her and left her in his closed car for several hours in 90-plus-degree heat.

Sasha Fogle, who would have turned 2 in December, apparently succumbed to the sweltering heat, police said.

Still visible last night in the back seat of her grandfather's otherwise pristine white Ford Taurus was a sandwich bag that once held crackers and a nearly empty baby bottle that appeared to have contained apple juice.

Crumbs that Sasha generated littered the cloth upholstery where the girl passed out and died.

The car that routinely took Sasha to her baby-sitter every weekday morning instead became a torrid tomb, apparently because her grandfather, Calvin Howell, simply forgot about her.

The temperature reached 96 degrees outside, according to the National Weather Service. The temperature inside the car probably exceeded 140 degrees.

"This is obviously a huge tragedy," said Police Capt. Thomas Lippo, of the department's homicide division.

No charges have been filed, Lippo said.

Lippo said Sasha, her mother, Aiesha, and her grandmother piled into Howell's car parked near their home on Ithan Street near Kingsessing Avenue about 6:40 a.m.

Howell, 54, dropped off his wife and daughter on Baltimore Avenue near 58th Street, so they could catch for work.

His next stop was to be Sasha's baby-sitter on Alden Street in Southwest Philadelphia.

But, Lippo said, "For some unknown reason, he forgot to drop her off and drove straight to work."

Nearly seven hours later, Howell left work as a city sanitation worker at 63rd Street and Eastwick Avenue, still not noticing his now-motionless, unconscious granddaughter in the back seat.

Howell went to an auto-repair shop to make an appointment for routine maintenance to his car, then drove back to the Ithan Street home he and his family.

It was then, about 2:25 p.m., that he discovered Sasha's lifeless body in the back seat.

She apparently had passed out, Lippo said. She was not in a car seat, he added.

Howell then called a neighbor who lives two doors from him and who is trained in CPR. She tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the baby until a medic unit arrived, said the neighbor's father, who requested anonymity.

He said his daughter, whom he declined to identify, had called him, clearly upset over the child's death.

He described Sasha's parents and grandparents as "a real good family."

Lisa Sanders, who identified herself as Sasha's stepmother, described her as "a good, sweet baby."

Howell, who is cooperating with police, called an ambulance, which rushed her to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where she was pronounced dead at 2:51 p.m. of heat-related causes.

A nurse at the hospital called police.

According to Lippo, the police are "going under the assumption" that Sasha's death was an accident.

"That's all we have right now," Lippo said. "We're at the preliminary stages of this continuing investigation. All we know is it's heat-related."

Police said Sasha's mother had also been questioned.

Lippo said an autopsy by the medical examiner will determine the cause of death. The results of the autopsy, as well as the results of his investigation, will be handed over to the district attorney's office.

"It will be up to them to determine whether charges will proceed or not," Lippo said.

About four years ago, 21-month-old Angelika Gaines died after she was accidentally left overnight inside her parents locked van for more than seven hours during a July heat wave.

Her parents, the Rev. David Gaines and his wife, Yvette, of West Oak Lane, were not charged.

How sad BUT no one is perfect. Sometimes you do not know you are capable or what the future holds until you are faced with the situation.

I can only pray to god that this situation never happens to me or any of my loved ones.

RedefinedDiva · #14 08-18-2002, 02:01 PM

It's sad and it's easy to throw blame, but stuff happens. Of course, most of us say that stuff like this will NEVER happen to them, but you never know. I am sure that this man never intended on leaving his granddaughter in the car. Never say never.

I would be more inclined to place ultimate blame on him had he clearly been negligent. Of course, this was negligence, but it's not like he PURPOSELY left the kid in the car while he went and got a haircut, went shopping, or something, like other "parents" have.

I feel sorry for him because he will have a LIFETIME of guilt on his shoulders.

Just pray for all the families.

ClassyLady · #15 08-20-2002, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mccoyred
...the article did say her grandfather. Even though he was still working, he could have some memory problems.

Although he is the grandfather, that doesn't mean that he is elderly. He is only 54. My mother is the same age and hardly considers herself old. Anyway, I know that people forget but I am still amazed. All he had to do was adjust the rear view mirror to see if the back seat was empty or not.