Parents Arrested After Child Found Abandoned Outside Disney Ride

[ladyjayhawk]

This is awful!! Poor baby! I'm so glad that a guest found her before it was too late.


From the Orlando Sentinel:

Two parents were arrested on child abuse counts after authorities found their child in a hot stroller outside Walt Disney World's Pirates of the Caribbean ride, according to an Orange County sheriff's report released Monday.

A Magic Kingdom patron alerted park management at about 4:45 p.m. Saturday after spotting an unattended 3-year-old girl in a stroller parked in the sun.

The girl was hot, turning red, covered in sweat and apparently “lifeless,” the report states. A paramedic touched and shook her, but she failed to respond. Saturday's highs were in the low 90s with no rain, and deputies estimate the child was in the sun for between 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Paramedics revived the girl by taking her indoors and giving her water. Deputies said the heat may have become deadly.

“[A paramedic] advised that if medical intervention had not been administered the female child was nearing signs of heat exhaustion with unknown results up to and including death,” the report states.

Parents Juan Carlos and Danette Rodriguez, 35 and 32, approached park workers seeking the girl about 50 minutes later. The couple said the girl was asleep inside a double stroller and got lost in the shuffle as their group of two adults and four children approached the ride, they told investigators.

When they entered the attraction, Juan Carlos thought Danette had their daughter, while Danette thought Juan Carlos had her. Shortly after, Juan Carlos went back outside to move the stroller to a designated area, but failed to see the little girl, he told deputies.

The parents only realized their daughter was missing when they exited the ride.

Juan Carlos and Danette were arrested on one count each of child abuse.

They were released from Orange County Jail Sunday on $2,500 bail each.

Calls to the parents' house were not returned.

The children were turned over to relatives members while the Department of Children and Families investigates.




Other links

http://www.wesh.com/news/13565909/detail.html

http://www.local6.com/news/13567345/detail.html

 

[scooter15]

As a former theme park employee of both Disney and another one, I have seen this too often. Sometimes with large groups, kids do get lost and each party assumes they have the child only to find out otherwise. But that was back in the day when cell phones were a luxury so not everyone had them. I have also seen and so has DH where parents purposefully leave children somewhere so they can be found by park employees so they could have fun at a theme park w/o the child. They think the lost and found is a place where park employees could babysit their kids.

 

[angel659]

This is madness. How on earth can you move a stroller without realising your child was in it. Surely the extra weight would be an indication. Sounds weird to me. Sounds like they are not the sharpest tools in the tool box

 

[fan_of_small_world]

Thank goodness for the guest who noticed the child and alerted the cast members. I'm surprised that a CM didn't notice her earlier, given how much they have to move the strollers around.

I'm glad she's OK. What worthless idiots she has for parents, though.

 

[OK!]

As a former theme park employee of both Disney and another one, I have seen this too often. Sometimes with large groups, kids do get lost and each party assumes they have the child only to find out otherwise. But that was back in the day when cell phones were a luxury so not everyone had them. I have also seen and so has DH where parents purposefully leave children somewhere so they can be found by park employees so they could have fun at a theme park w/o the child. They think the lost and found is a place where park employees could babysit their kids.

My God, how horrible! People can be unbelievable.

 

[rparmfamily]

That is horrible!!

 

[HeatherH]

The couple said the girl was asleep inside a double stroller and got lost in the shuffle as their group of two adults and four children approached the ride, they told investigators.

You're TWO adults and FOUR children, you don't CHECK to be sure you have all your kids before you go on a ride???? That's ridiculous, and so very wrong.

 

[Imzadi]

I don't get this. The story doesn't make sense to me. They have a double stroller, but the child was found in another stroller? So they basically lost a whole stroller, didn't notice. Then went on a ride for 2 hours separately?

They came back 50 minutes after the child was found. If the child had died, they'd be up for manslaughter.

 

[agnes!]

Those two ought to be strapped into a stroller in the 90+ degree Florida heat for two hours and see how they like it.
Worthless brutes.

And wait a minute...there were two adults and four children before or AFTER the little girl went missing?
Gee, 2 + 5 = 7, 2 + 4 = 6, 2 + 3 = 5... where is the baby?

agnes!

 

[rparmfamily]

I agree, the story does not make sense.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

I think their story is complete BS--BTDT with 2 adults and 4 kids, it's not THAT hard to keep track! They were away from her for hours! Come on--he went outside to move the stroller, and didn't notice her in there?!? She's 3--weighs at least 25 pounds, three feet tall. It's not like misplacing a sandwich!

My theory--the child probably fell asleep in the stroller, they figured, gee if we just leave her here she'll be fine, and went on a bunch of rides.

 

[ducklite]

My theory--the child probably fell asleep in the stroller, they figured, gee if we just leave her here she'll be fine, and went on a bunch of rides.

That's exactly what I was thinking as I was reading the story. Jerks.

Anne

 

[beattyfamily]

 

[Buckalew11]

I think their story is complete BS--BTDT with 2 adults and 4 kids, it's not THAT hard to keep track! They were away from her for hours! Come on--he went outside to move the stroller, and didn't notice her in there?!? She's 3--weighs at least 25 pounds, three feet tall. It's not like misplacing a sandwich!

My theory--the child probably fell asleep in the stroller, they figured, gee if we just leave her here she'll be fine, and went on a bunch of rides.

That's the way I hear it also. maybe not even a bunch of rides...maybe that one. Either way, one ride too many w/o their daughter.

They are backpeddling and trying to get out of trouble. Their story sounds like some made up story like a child would tell to get out of trouble.

 

[heart4pooh]

I'm the first to admit I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I once stepped away from my 2 yr old in a stroller to holler at my husband and step daughters that were in line to 20,000 leagues that I was taking my son over to the Dumbo ride. I pushed an empty stroller to the ride (talking to him the whole time!!) It wasn't until I went around to the front to get him out for the ride that I saw it was empty. I ran all the way back to him to find two CM's squatting down and talking to him!! I was so upset and was crying. They said they knew someone would be back cause he looked like a keeper!! They saw how upset I was and offered us sodas and popcorn. Anyhow, I obviously couldn't tell weight wise that the stroller was empty. It was 18 yrs ago and I only used an umbrella stroller back home...I wasn't used to the bigger plastic ones they had with a shade of some sort over the top.

 

[boomhauer]

I don't care how many people you are with, how could this happen? I can't even fathom being in Disney and not knowing where one of my kids is. It just doesn't make any sense.

Either they left her there on purpose or they are the 2 dumbest people in the world.

 

[goudaman40]

You know that was just stupid on their part. I mean, if you have a sleeping child and you are 2 adults with other children, you leave one adult with the child that is asleep and take the other adult and children on a ride.

It seems like this day and age, too many people are treating children like luxury items and status symbols instead of children. It seems like when it is convient for a person to have a child, they want that child around, but when the child gets in the way of the adults lifestyle, they toss the child to the side.

There are just too many news stories of children being harmed or forgotten by their parents.

 

[AdventurerKat]

That story doesn't fly with me. A group of 6 or 7 is not that big and I don't know about you all but when I get on a ride with my kids, I am usually sitting with them or near them. The child was three, not ten and maybe wanting a little independence to sit a row back or something.

That's just sad.

 

[RUDisney]

I can't even fathom being in Disney and not knowing where one of my kids is. It just doesn't make any sense.

That's pretty harsh, don't you think?

Circa 1977: My family was in Tomorrowland at the drinking fountain. My brother, then 7, got it into his head that he had to go on the Haunted Mansion ride RIGHT NOW! This was in the day that HM was an E ticket ride. He didn't have a ticket. He was lost for almost 3 hours. We had CMs helping us to find him and finally someone's grandmother sat on a bench next to him and started asking questions about where his parents were. He told her the whole story about wanting to go into the HM. She contacted a CM and we were reunited.

Were my parents negligent, no, I don't think so. They just had a rambunctious 7yo boy. He got out of their sight for a second and was gone.

You've painted the picture to be that anyone who loses their child is a bad person. I don't think heart4pooh was a bad parent either.

I DO believe that the Rodrigez's aren't the best parents in the world to leave their baby in a stroller in the sun while they went on rides.

Two completely different things, IMO.

 

[Missy1961]

what jerks.