Tragedy in Camden--incredible aftermath

[evitajr1]

<p>I understand the car was owned by a relative. As to watching them all the time, we all know that is impossible. It is a horrible tragedy, and no one should be blamed. There are enough recriminations to go around - the parents should have checked the car, the police should have, the mother shouldn’t have gone inside for a few minutes, etc. Sometimes, awful things happen, and no one person is at fault. I can’t imagine their pain, however. God help them and everyone who looked for the children. I can’t imagine living with the thought that but for…</p>

[calmom]

<p>Update: Report: Police failed to follow procedures in trunk deaths

Tuesday, August 2, 2005</p>

<p>CAMDEN, New Jersey (AP) – Police failed to follow proper procedures as they searched for three missing boys, neglecting a federal agency’s recommendations to immediately look in enclosed spaces such as car trunks, a report released Tuesday said.</p>

<p>The report also faulted parents of the children for waiting three hours to call police, and for not disclosing during the massive search that one of the boys had previously played in the trunk of the car that was parked in the yard where they had been last seen.</p>

<p>…</p>

<p>Camden police never adopted search procedures recommended in 1998 by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the report said. That advice states that, in cases of missing children, police should immediately search confined spaces such as refrigerators and car trunks.</p>

<p>By the day after the boys vanished, 150 law enforcement officials were using boats, helicopters and search dogs in a vain attempt to find them. But the report said officials should have brought the dogs in sooner.</p>

<p>The bodies were discovered when a relative looking for jumper cables opened the trunk of a disabled Toyota Camry next to the Cruz home. An autopsy ruled the boys suffocated, dying between 13 and 33 hours after climbing into the car.</p>

<p>…</p>

<p>The report did not blame any officers for failing to search the car. However, the document stated that, based on law enforcement documents, police and parents said five different times during the search that the car had been searched, even though that was incorrect.</p>

<p>Two officers apparently came very close. At about 3 a.m. June 23, about 10 hours after the boys disappeared, they banged on the trunk of the car and loudly called the boys’ names but heard no response, the report stated.</p>

<p>Sarubbi said the medical examiner believes the boys did not answer because they already had lapsed into unconsciousness after falling asleep. The report states the boys did not struggle while in the trunk.</p>

<p>The boys apparently climbed into the trunk through the car’s passenger compartment, moving items such as a tire iron and car jack into the compartment and leaving their shoes there as well, according to the report.

</p>

<p>From: <a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/02/trunk.deaths.ap/index.html[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/02/trunk.deaths.ap/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;