I don’t believe anyone believes there was any intent on the part of Edward Kanterman to deliberately harm his 14-month-old grandson.
In fact, you could argue quite the contrary. Kanterman was by all accounts a doting grandfather, who reveled in the time he spent with little Nicholas McCorkle.
That did not change on June 10. But something did.
On that day, the hottest day of the year as we sweltered in a late-spring heat wave, Kanterman arrived at his daughter’s house as he routinely did to pick up his grandson and drop him off at his day care center.
But Kanterman did not do that. Instead, he drove to work, cracked the windows and sunroof on his SUV, and went inside. Left behind was little Nicholas, still strapped in his car seat, where he would remain for hours as temperatures outside hit the high 90s. Police believe the temperature inside the car zoomed to 120 degrees.
Nicholas was not discovered for hours, when Kanterman returned to his car after lunch and realized what happened.
The tot was rushed to the hospital. But it was too late. He lingered on life support for several days. The inevitable, crushing, unbelievably sad saga concluded when little Nicholas passed away after being removed from life support.
Nicholas’ life was over; but the investigation into his death was not.
Left to be sorted out was what – if indeed any – charges would be filed against the grandfather. Members of the family made it clear they did not want charges pressed in the case. They felt it would only add to Kanterman’s grief. Some believe he already is serving something of a jail sentence, living the rest of his days with the knowledge of what happened as a result of his actions.
But District Attorney G. Michael Green clearly viewed the case differently. He was not alone.
All across the region, the question was the same. How could this have happened? How could Kanterman not have realized he had left the tot behind in the sweltering car? And, in our most private moments, all of us asked if we could ever imagine ourselves doing something similar. I know I did.
Now we have answers to some questions, and yet no real knowledge of what happened that fateful morning.
The answer from Kanterman is that he simply forgot. That answer comes in the affidavit issued for his arrest.
Green, while acknowledging the incredible pain and suffering heaped on the family, clearly took a different view of the legal aspects of the case.
He charged Kanterman with a felony count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of little Nicholas.
Much of what has been discussed concerning this case revolves around what exactly is criminal intent. At the minimum, I would think the case clearly reaches the level of reckless endangerment. That probably kicked in as soon as Kanterman closed the door of the SUV, leaving the child behind.
I don’t envy Green in making this decision. I also don’t think Kanterman should go to jail.
I would still like to know just how something like this could happen. And how we could prevent it from happening again.
To that end I got a call yesterday from a reader, George Wood, of Marcus Hook. He has an idea I think could work in preventing just this kind of tragedy.
One thing some experts believe might be at work here is the fact that most people now are placing car seats in the back seat, so as to keep them away from any possible injury should the front air bags be deployed. Once tucked away in the back, some people believe it is easier to forget that precious cargo. Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose.
Here’s Wood’s idea. Place a medium-size teddy bear in your empty car seat. When you take the teddy bear out and put your loved one in the car seat, put the teddy bear next to you in the front seat. That way when you get out, you’re much more likely to see the bear, and thus remember who’s still sitting in the back seat.
If it prevents even one such case, it will be well worth it.
Stories don’t get much more sad and tragic than this one. I would be hard-pressed to find a positive angle from anything that happened since Nicholas McCorkle was left in the back seat of that SUV.
Wood just might have provided one. Thanks, George.
In fact, you could argue quite the contrary. Kanterman was by all accounts a doting grandfather, who reveled in the time he spent with little Nicholas McCorkle.
That did not change on June 10. But something did.
On that day, the hottest day of the year as we sweltered in a late-spring heat wave, Kanterman arrived at his daughter’s house as he routinely did to pick up his grandson and drop him off at his day care center.
But Kanterman did not do that. Instead, he drove to work, cracked the windows and sunroof on his SUV, and went inside. Left behind was little Nicholas, still strapped in his car seat, where he would remain for hours as temperatures outside hit the high 90s. Police believe the temperature inside the car zoomed to 120 degrees.
Nicholas was not discovered for hours, when Kanterman returned to his car after lunch and realized what happened.
The tot was rushed to the hospital. But it was too late. He lingered on life support for several days. The inevitable, crushing, unbelievably sad saga concluded when little Nicholas passed away after being removed from life support.
Nicholas’ life was over; but the investigation into his death was not.
Left to be sorted out was what – if indeed any – charges would be filed against the grandfather. Members of the family made it clear they did not want charges pressed in the case. They felt it would only add to Kanterman’s grief. Some believe he already is serving something of a jail sentence, living the rest of his days with the knowledge of what happened as a result of his actions.
But District Attorney G. Michael Green clearly viewed the case differently. He was not alone.
All across the region, the question was the same. How could this have happened? How could Kanterman not have realized he had left the tot behind in the sweltering car? And, in our most private moments, all of us asked if we could ever imagine ourselves doing something similar. I know I did.
Now we have answers to some questions, and yet no real knowledge of what happened that fateful morning.
The answer from Kanterman is that he simply forgot. That answer comes in the affidavit issued for his arrest.
Green, while acknowledging the incredible pain and suffering heaped on the family, clearly took a different view of the legal aspects of the case.
He charged Kanterman with a felony count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of little Nicholas.
Much of what has been discussed concerning this case revolves around what exactly is criminal intent. At the minimum, I would think the case clearly reaches the level of reckless endangerment. That probably kicked in as soon as Kanterman closed the door of the SUV, leaving the child behind.
I don’t envy Green in making this decision. I also don’t think Kanterman should go to jail.
I would still like to know just how something like this could happen. And how we could prevent it from happening again.
To that end I got a call yesterday from a reader, George Wood, of Marcus Hook. He has an idea I think could work in preventing just this kind of tragedy.
One thing some experts believe might be at work here is the fact that most people now are placing car seats in the back seat, so as to keep them away from any possible injury should the front air bags be deployed. Once tucked away in the back, some people believe it is easier to forget that precious cargo. Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose.
Here’s Wood’s idea. Place a medium-size teddy bear in your empty car seat. When you take the teddy bear out and put your loved one in the car seat, put the teddy bear next to you in the front seat. That way when you get out, you’re much more likely to see the bear, and thus remember who’s still sitting in the back seat.
If it prevents even one such case, it will be well worth it.
Stories don’t get much more sad and tragic than this one. I would be hard-pressed to find a positive angle from anything that happened since Nicholas McCorkle was left in the back seat of that SUV.
Wood just might have provided one. Thanks, George.
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