Father goes to jail for not using sunscreen

[Limeoutsider]

Walter McKelvie Jr. of Vineland, New Jersey has been charged with child abuse after failing to apply a sufficient amount of sunblock to his 12-year-old mentally disabled son. After a day at the beach last summer, his son suffered large, bleeding blisters on both his back and face. His mother, who was not with him during the incident, took R.M. (her son) to the hospital and reported it to the authorities. McKelvie faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted.

 

[the_Baron]

i wonder if sunscreen had been applied, yet damage still occurred, would his sentence be based on the blackage protection applied?

an inverse penalty based on the SPF??

 

[dskodj]

Where the heck do you find all these almost unbelivable storys! This is bad! So 18 months in prison for a possible human error?? Where's my time machine..im goin back to the good ol days where I belong..fuck this world LOL

 

[Mephistopheles]

if your kid gets friggin bleeding blisters, a mentally disabled kid, hell yeah it's fucking child-abuse

If you take your kiddo to the beach and you neglect to protect it from the biggest risk at a beach: sunburn

you fail to do what you're responsible for

 

[Limeoutsider]

Where the heck do you find all these almost unbelivable storys!

4/5 times at yahoo news

 

[leafstk]

not cool, but 18 months? I dunno, seems a little harsh. The guy can't have too much upstairs though, that's for sure. Poor kid, that's horrible 🙁 Especially if he was a well meaning dad trying to treat his kid to a nice time, I feel terrible for him too.

 

[TklDuo-Ann]

While neglect is a possibility, I've been to the beach and gotten totally fried after using SPF45. So, they really need to look at this a bit more reasonably. Should he have kept a closer eye on the kid? Absolutely. Does it warrant 18 months in prison? Not in my book. Have the guy do community service at a local pool or beach area stressing the sunblock issue to other parents. THEN it might accomplish something.

Ann

 

[BigJim]

if your kid gets friggin bleeding blisters, a mentally disabled kid, hell yeah it's fucking child-abuse

If you take your kiddo to the beach and you neglect to protect it from the biggest risk at a beach: sunburn

you fail to do what you're responsible for

I was appauled at first, till I read that detail. Great epidermis injuries like that don't occur in a short space of time, it takes prolonged exposure. This isn't red skin and peeling we're talking about here, it's severe injuries that border on second-degree burns by the sound of it.

I don't think I'd impose an 18 month prison sentence, but the guy needs a very sharp wake-the-fuck-up-dickhead call.

 

[JoBelle]

Actually, I have to agree with the sentence.

If you've ever seen a sunburn victim with major exposure, you'll see what a sunburn can really do! We're talking permanent scarring here, not just a few freckles and peeling skin.

That kind of damage, as Jim mentioned, does not occur quickly. It's long term exposure that DEFINES negligent behavior. It's not hard to spray a little coppertone on someone. It takes less than one minute and can save a lot of pain and agony.

An adult refusing to take on that 60 second chore deserves to pay for their laziness.

Jo.

 

[BigJim]

Hmmmm, exactly right. At the very least he's guilty of criminal negligence, isn't he?