commentary by Patrick H. Moore
It seems that one of the never-ending obligations a modern parent faces is that at some point you must do the right thing and COOK your child till he or she dies (or at least suffers severe brain damage) in a blistering hot car on an unmercifully hot summer day. Part of the challenge is to get the temperature in your “cooker” of a vehicle up to 140 degree F or even possibly 160 degree or higher.
This peculiar rite of parental passage seems to be growing in popularity, and it seems we hear about another incident of “child car cooking” on an almost daily basis now.
Of course, it doesn’t always work out like you’d planned it. There are those depressing occasions when you leave your little brat in the “cooker” and go off to do your thang only to return to your car later assuming brat-boy will be lobster red only to discover that some busy body (AKA good Samaritan) has called the authorities. Your kid is safe and sound, but at a minimum, you’re under arrest for child abuse charges.
So what should you do if you come back from a “quick hitter” with a clandestine lover, or a trip to the supermarket, or even a job interview (cause after all, kids are expensive and you’ve got to feed them) only to discover that the ubiquitous “good citizen” is on the phone reporting you.
Well, that depends. If it’s not too late, you might just jump in your car and “tear ass” out of there hoping your vehicle has not already been identified by its license plate number. Or, of course, you could try and reason with the good Samaritan but you know how these officious folks are – they’re unlikely to simply listen to reason.
So chances are, you’re going to have to resort to Option #3. You’re going to try to kick the busy-body’s ass, or shoot them if you’re “carrying”, or perhaps run them over with your steaming hot car.
Unsurprisingly, several of these options actually came to pass a few days ago in Colorado.
Dominic Kelly of Opposing Views writes:
A Colorado couple called the police when they discovered a young boy locked in a hot car, but before the police could get there, the boy’s mother returned to the car, became angry that the couple reported her, and ran the two over. Now, one of them may never walk again.
Shannon Dominguez, 43, was outside a store with her boyfriend Alan Mason when they spotted a young boy trapped inside a hot car.
“All four windows were rolled up,” explained Dominguez. “And it was in the direct sun. It scares the heck out of me. It’s some innocent child might die.”
So concerned citizen Dominguez, a resident of Longmont, Colorado, decides to call the police. While she’s on the phone, Mom, an angry 27-year-old women named Kristina Riddell, who according to Fox 13 has an extensive criminal record (which includes arrests for assault, domestic violence and multiple driving violations), gets hopping mad and decides to “fight fire with fire”.
Now although it could be argued that Riddell may not be the world’s best mother, there’s little doubt that she’s an ass-kickin’ mama. She reportedly approached the couple with “bloody hell” in her eyes. First, she threatens to beat up Dominguez, but realizing that’s a bit on the lightweight side, she proceeds to punch Mason the Man right in the chops.
Tough mama, meat shakin’ on the bone!
Then Mother Riddell must have decided that she wasn’t being forceful enough. According to the reports, she then “quickly got into her car and proceed(ed) to” drive straight at Dominguez and Mason apparently intending to “flatten them like pancakes”.
At this point, we’ll let Mason briefly assume the narrative voice:
“She had her windows down, so I grabbed onto the door. She drug me about 20 feet. I realized she was not going to stop, so I let go. I tumbled in the parking lot.”
According to a separate report, Mason was thrown over the hood of the car while Dominguez’s leg was crushed under Mother Riddell’s white Honda. According to physicians, Mason suffered internal and external bruising, but poor Dominguez may never walk again.
“My tibia has a spiral break. My fibula has three breaks in it. They put a rod in there,” Dominguez to FOX 31. “Every day is a chore. Every day is stressful.”
It was apparently all in the day’s work for Mother Riddell. She appears to have driven home; perhaps she fed her son dinner, read him a bedtime story and tucked him in for the night. We don’t know for sure. What we do know is that she was later arrested at her home and that her charges include hit and run, assault, and child abuse (and I would imagine they’ll add a GBI enhancement to the assault charge based on the fact she transformed her white Honda into a lethal weapon).
Our good Samaritans, Mason and Dominguez, say that despite the devastating results of their good deed (truly no good deed goes unpunished), they would do it all over again if it meant helping a child.
I would only add that if the occasion ever arises and they do “do it all over again”, they would be wise to “run for cover” when Mad Mother Riddell gets behind the wheel of her over-heated white Honda.