Also, search in Google Groups under "Susan Newkirk" OR "toddler drowns" and "jailed" and you'll find quite a few thoughtful (and angry) threads.
(Though one person argued that maybe she was really jailed for failing to prevent him from falling in to begin with and the reporter didn't get that. I doubt it, though I suspect she'd never have been convicted had one of the other non-swimmers drowned.)
(Though one person argued that maybe she was really jailed for failing to prevent him from falling in to begin with and the reporter didn't get that. I doubt it, though I suspect she'd never have been convicted had one of the other non-swimmers drowned.)
I read about this in the local rag. Essentially, she and her boyfriend foolishly took his child too close to the edge of a swollen stream so they could gawk at the flooding. They were behaving like the rubes who just have to visit the beach before a hurricane. He was pretty stupid for letting a non-swimmer watch his son, but as the adult present when the boy fell in, she bears the blame.
Coincidentally, soon-to-retire District Attorney Dave Gorman is one of the stalwarts of my old masters team.
