Did you hear the one about the man who put a feverish baby into a freezer to cool her down? Unfortunately this is not a joke. A 21-year-old Canadian man faces charges of criminal negligence and assault for putting his girlfriend’s 10-month-old baby in the freezer.
The girl’s mother found the child crammed into a freezer alongside ice cubes and hamburger meat. The boyfriend claims, as if this would make any difference, that he left the door ajar. The mother refutes his claim, saying she found the door closed when she returned home. The boyfriend also claimed that the child had been in the freezer for just about 40 seconds before the mother came home and found her. He further stated to police that he had no parenting skills to deal with a sick child and that he had initially placed a cool cloth on her face when he noticed that she was very hot. When this did not work he says he carried the child outside into the night air hoping this would work. He considered placing her in a tub of cold water but was concerned that she might drown (but obviously not concerned that she might freeze to death). Frustrated, he then placed the child in the freezer.
The child was wearing an undershirt when found and according to the mother she was “crying, sobbing and terrified.” The baby was hospitalized for several days for first- and second-degree freezer burns on her head and torso. Proof that the child had to have been in the freezer longer than the man alleged. The man pleaded not guilty to the charges. The baby’s grandmother has custody of the baby at this time.
When I read this article all I could think of was, “Wow, how stupid can you get?” Even with absolutely no parenting skills at all, I would think that anyone with any sense at all would know not to place a baby in a freezer. Did he ever think to call the child’s mother, the hospital or any adult who could help him? I feel no sympathy for people like this, they deserve to be punished severely. And mothers, I understand that sometimes you have to leave your kids with others, but for God’s sake, make sure you know who you are leaving your child with.
See also:
Selling Our Kids and Using Them As Weapons