A Florida babysitter was charged with child neglect after taking a baby in his stroller for a ride the bed of a pickup.
According to 911 calls, several people contacted Daytona Beach police Wednesday when they saw the stroller in the back of the truck.
"It's not something you see every day," Daytona Beach police Chief Mike Chitwood told CNN affiliate WESH. "I hope they revoke her babysitting license for that. Would you want her watching your kid?"
The babysitter, Keyona Davis, 23, said in a court appearance Thursday that she had a firm grip on the stroller and that she did not realize her actions constituted neglect.
Davis' public defender had argued that the charge of child neglect was too harsh, as the baby was unharmed.
"It's only if the pickup crashes, the child will be injured or hurt," a public defender said in court.
Davis replied, "Exactly!"
Davis said she didn't realize that police would consider what she did as "negligent."
"It's not like they give you a handbook or anything," she said.
Davis was released from jail on her own recognizance. Police are still investigating the driver of the truck and the baby's mother.
This will launch a new ad campaing..... Chevy: Like a rock..... Dodge: Like a rocker.
This just reinforces my feeling that, if one decides to have children, that person should have to pass some sort of a test before having children. We issue licenses for fishing, bicycles, cars, dogs, cats, you name it. Why not for having children? But then, just because one has a license for something does not guarantee that they will use common sense. One is either born with common sense or not born with common sense. Obviously Davis does not possess common sense. I hope she doesn't have any children of her own.
People have that argument all the time about having to take and pass a test to have children (or in this case, babysit). But, assuming you drive a car - look around the next time you are on the road. All those bad drivers...they passed a test. A test wouldn't matter. I get that some basic knowledge would help everybody...but I really think some people aren't cut out to have or take care of kids and no amount of test taking would help them.
I say that every time I see a person driving while talking on a cell phone.
Please do not have children. I you already do, please put them up for adoption.
My replys on these CNN boards do not go where they are supposed to. Sorry, my reply was meant for Bayousara
blue boo, you make a very good point! I can't stand it when people say "you should have to pass a test to have children." It makes no sense and it's physically impossible. BUT if there was such a ridiculous test it would go right along side of a driver's test, just like you said.
So suppose someone failed this test to have babies. How do you enforce it? Do you make sure they don't sleep around? if they get pregnant, what's next?
because once you start deciding who can and cannot have children, that becomes a slippery slope.
When I was a kid, before we had head rests and seat belts in cars, it was not unusual for us kids to all pile into the back of pickup and go to town. Kids on farms/ranches do this today. No one even held our hand or put much effort into seeing if we were "secure." I don't know why this woman took the baby in the back of a pickup, was it a short distance? Those @#$%% strollers can be hard to set up and put down. Maybe it was just easier to put it in the back of the truck. She is definitely holding on to it. I see babies at fairs all the time with nary a cover from the sun. So what is all the fuss?
Really? I hope you are not a parent to small children. I would be afraid of what else you might think is not such a big deal.
Please, oh please do not have children. I you already do, please put them up for adoption. Thank you.
I agree with Bayousara. What exactly is the problem? The baby was safe all the time, the driver wasn't reckless.
Yes, I recall the time when some vehicles did not have the restraints and kids piled into the back of a pick up truck in rural areas or small towns. However, I wish the babysitter would have just gotten into the truck with the baby and just folded up the stroller and placed it onto the flatbed.
Bayousara, you're bayoustupid. Riding in the back of a pickup on a ranch or farm is different than doing so on a road with other cars. Can you figure out why?
The fact that she was holding on to the stroller would not offer protection to the child in the event of a serious accident. Can you figure out why?
It probably WAS a little easier to throw the stroller up into the back of the pickup than to fold up and set up again later.
But that's the problem with you bayoustupids (though you don't have to be from the bayou to be stupid). You jackballs decide to do what's easier FOR YOU rather than thinking things through or factoring in what's BEST FOR BABY OR CHILD.
@What? And what difference does it make how the driver drives when someone plows into the back of them? Or if someone runs a red light and T-bones them? Doesn't matter if you are the best driver in the world. You are still only as safe as the people driving around you.....
@ Matthew:
If you know my thinking at all, you know that I would not write that post about the film for babysitter training.
I pay taxes too.
Baby is OK, thank goodness. Can't say the same for her brain.
What an idiot...and the mom is too for not knowing the moron she left her child with....
We all know that the twit who was so called "BABYSITTING" was charged with felony neglect, now what about the dirver? This person is just as guilty and stupid as the "I need a handbook." twit that was in the back of the truck, if not more so.
She got charged because the state owns the child. Its really the states child and so are your children.
As any judge can tell you, ignorance of the law is not an excuse, try again defense team.
This is not a case of neglect, it is a case of poor judgment! And poor judgment in good faith: the woman was next to the child, holding the stroller, on a quiet city street. Obviously she cares! Same as having a bunch of kids piled in the back of a station wagon, which we all used to do everyday. I feel very sorry for the young woman. A warning and a class on all those SUV mom driving rules she has missed.
It's not the same. You were still inside of the station wagon. The baby was outside of the truck. In a collision, the baby would have traveled some distance before hitting something. If the truck had rolled over, the baby could have been crushed. This is negligence.
Piled in the back of a station wagon? Yes and everyone used to smoke to but now we know better.... That's a pi$$ poor excuse if I ever herd one.....
I agree with you christina young. The most anyone deserves in this instance is a ticket. To call this neglect based on "shoulda-coulda-woulda-" is silly. If an accident had occured everyone would have been injured not just the child. Neglect would be her driving with the child bouncing around in the back.
Why isn't the driver being charged? Isn't the driver of a vehicle responsible for their passengers? It sounds like there are two guilty individuals involved here, but our legal system is only interested in prosecuting one of them.
awful lot of judges in this world
Take her drivers license away while you're at it Florida since she obviously doesn't know that you're supposed to have BOTH hands on the wheel when you're driving. And yes there should be a test to become a parent especially in Florida.
Or read the article and look at the image, since she wasn't even driving the truck.
Another example of how black stereotyping as ignorant, illiterate trash is illustrated. Can't blame slavery for this.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse, as they say. I'm sure the parents expected her to use common sense. In an accident the child could easily have flown out of the back. It's a death trap and no parent in their right minds would allow it. Hopefully they find someone with more intelegence to watch their child in the future, or better yet, watch the child themselves.