More on Car Seats

April 8, 2006 permalink

The following article from a volunteer news site shows the contempt that professional child protectors have for car seats.

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Connecticut Department of Children & Families claims it is exempt from the law and allegedly endangers three toddlers, which resulted in a complaint made to police.

By AJ Fontaine -- National News Director

03-15-06

ANSONIA, CT - On March 14 Eric Belko filed an official complaint of misconduct with the Ansonia Police against, at least five police officers that allegedly permitted Connectciut Department of Children & Families (D.C.F.) worker Luis-Rivas Vazquez to transport three premature toddlers, without car safety seats.

The children were removed by D.C.F. on unsubstantiated allegations made 8 weeks prior. Mr. Belko's 11 year old step child was also removed, but was returned only a few days after.

Connectciut State law requires very young children to be restrained while a vehicle is in motion and State employees are not exempt from obeying such laws.

Our staff contacted the D.C.F. abuse hotline regarding the matter and later received a call from a supervisor claiming transporting young children without proper restraints, is not a violation.

Mr. Belko said, "I filed a complaint against the police officers with Lt. Cota, and started an investigation into Luis Rivas-Vazquez today."

Mr. Belko also stated he was retaining Philip N. Walker, Esq. of Becker And Walker, LLC of Collinsville, CT to represent him in court.

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Source:
www.walrradio.com/ belko.htm

Last November we reported on the death of Emma Ringrose. We received an email complaining about the story:

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From:

Geoff & Pam Ringrose <gpringrose@rogers.com>

To:

rtmq@stn.net

Subject:

article re; Emma Ringrose

Date:

Wed, 1 Feb 2006 14:42:19 -0500

Dear Mr. McQuaid,

I am Emma Ringrose's father. I am absolutely disgusted to see the article printed on your site suggesting that Emma was improperly restrained in our mini-van. She was in a proper booster seat, wearing her seat belt properly, a seat belt, by the way, which was still attached after Emma was ejected from our vehicle. The police, the coroner and Transport Canada who studied the seat and belt themselves, have said that Emma was absolutely restrained properly in our van. Your assertion that she was not indicates that your site is based purely on assumptions and conjecture, and destroys any credibility you claim to have. If your are a man of any ethical worth, you'll not only correct your site, but issue an apology as well.

Geoff Ringrose

There is no way to know of the authenticity of a message that arrives unsolicited from cyberspace, and the author did not respond to a request for copies of the exculpatory statements alluded to in the email.

We posted an article earlier showing that in real life it is not practical for parents to properly install a car seat. Our conclusion about Emma was based on the report by Melinda Dalton: "Emma Ringrose was ejected from her seat at the time of impact, police said". This in an accident in which no adults were seriously hurt. Maybe as in the case of Connecticut DCF, the parents did not strap the child into the seat, maybe the seat was not properly attached to the vehicle or maybe Emma slipped out of the belt. Since few parents are callous enough to endanger their own child, one of the latter two is more likely, as corroborated by the statement that the belt was still attached after the accident. Car seats protect infants in the laboratory. In practice, they are death-traps.