I read this article awhile back and no one has ever answered the question…why did not the parents look in the car…were they not searching for their children or was it only the responsibility of the Police?
Once again, someone else is responsible for the misfortunes of others. Yes its a tragedy. No the police were not at fault. To say that the Police should have looked in the trunk is equal to saying that the parents should have told the kids that playing in a car is a no no. Don’t the parents have any liability here? It makes me sick that there are no such things as tragic accidents that are not anyone’s fault.
I want my redistribution of wealth!!!!!
Hey….. I have an idea. Lets put all the Liars (lawyers) into a big trunk and forget about them until they die. They will all be gone, so there will be nonone to sue us and everyone will be able to do their job without the fear of being sued.
One more example of where this country is headed. No responsibility, no accountability. As much as I love this country I could not be more disgusted with what it has become.
This settlement is an atrocity and neither the city nor the police were negligent or liable. This sum of money is more than these people would ever have hoped to see in their lifetime. This just encourages people to look to the city for a handout everytime something bad happens.
The parents obviously weren’t supervising their kids and did a poor job of looking for them. It’s speculative and doubtful they were alive when the cops checked the car or they would have made some noise. I’m sure the person who abandoned the car isn’t collectable.
The Cruz family owned the car! Yet they are plaintiffs as well…how can this be? Do they not have a duty to remove what has proven to be an attractive nuisance from their yard? I tend to agree with the comments about where this country now finds itself. Scary.
This is a a terible thing that happened to these boys……….but the parents didn’t check the trunk of a car in thier own yard. Please , parents must be accountable for your own childrens safety. How long was the abandoned car in the yard? The parents did nothing prior to this event tragic?
No one should be blamed for this other than the parents. They should have known where their children were playing. As someone stated before….”were they not looking for their children as well”. This is sad. Considering the state the country is in right now that this amount of money would be awarded. This never should have made it to court.
The Cruz family more than likely were approached by bottom feeding, money grubbing, lawyers (term used very lightly)in the local area who monitor police radios, and hang out outside emergency rooms and such. The billboards, TV commercials, newpapers and yellow pages are full of these dirt bags looking for 33% of the settlements. This litigated portion of our society sucks.
This will be a boost to the economy. Once the attorney’s take their exhorbitant share, the pf’s will be out of $$ within a year ‘cuz they spent it all.
The lives of three children are invaluable and the losses suffered are incalculable. Yet, how were the police to blame? $2.5 M worth? I repeat, how? The one telling phrase: “…but no one checked the trunk of the Toyota Camry parked in the Cruz family’s yard.” Where were the parents? Siblings? Friends? Are they blameworthy? Did they get sued? If this was my family’s tragic loss, we would ponder how we had failed; not to blaming the good faith efforts of police, neighbors and others. Yet, it must be remembered this tragedy occurred in New Jersey–not Idaho.
Ok…Ok…I would usually be the first one to pipe up about parents’ responsibility for their children. I am all for it and I get it. There is no excuse, BUT….I wonder how many people here, who have kids would be saying the same thing if it happened to them? Stop and think about it. I don’t have all the details about this unfortunate occurence, however, but I am curious as to WHY didn’t the police check the trunk of the car? Aren’t they trained? The parents may have taken their word that they checked everywhere. Perhaps the police admitted their own negligence in failing to check the trunk? Also, why doesn’t the Camry have a safety latch on the inside? Is the Camry in this article that old of an automobile that didn’t have a safety latch on the inside fo the trunk?
Yes, we can easily preach about the responsiblity of the parents, I am the first to agree…however, this is such a tragedy…I think that if those were my own children, I would be so distraught
about the whole situation you would have to hold me down to keep me from going insane…
Calculating the value of the human life has been in existence for 100 years in this country. Life actuaries, agents and the industry should be in the mix to get tort reform changed to anything but the open ended chaos we have now. Congress…get off the dime and go to work on Tort Reform. But first, place blame where blame is due…not Toyota, not the city…not anyone but the lame parents who can’t seem to keep track of their own kids. A bigger blame should be directed at the scum bag lawyers who benefit the most from the problems of others.
Remember this is a SETTLEMENT…not a jury award. If the defense lawyers weren’t draining the insurance companies, more would try these type of cases and let juries decide. I want to think that a jury of their peers would find the parents responsible for this tragedy….not the police.
Get real. First the Toyota was an older model that did not require a safety latch in the trunk so don’t blame Toyota, that’s the easy way out. Two, is it law enforcement’s responsibility to solve all of our problems? Where are they negligent? As a previous post notes, are we supposed to hold every search and rescue team responsible for not finding those lost in the outdoors? Why didn’t the irresponsible parents remove that vehicle? Did they leave the trunk open or was the lock not functional and if so they probably knew about it. You’re right, we may not have all the details so there are many assumptions but where do you draw the line on responsibility? Don’t give me your liberal spin. Regardless of how tragic this incident was, which it was without question, that is still no excuse to pass the blame in order to line your pockets. As I said before, this country is a mess.
What a sad story. I hurt for those kids. What terrible parents they had. The parents were negligent for not watching the kids in the front yard. What is not provided, is how long were the kids in the car prior to the parents looking for them? How long before they called the police? Why were the parents not taken to jail for child neglect? Who in their right mind allows an 11 year old supervise 5 and6 year old children in the front yard? These poor kids found one danger, how long before reached the street? Its obvious these negligent parents were not paying attention.
So what if the car did not have a safety release in the trunk. Would any of those kids known of it?
Its outrageos to think that anyone is to blame but these negligent parents! They should be jailed for negligent homicide!
As far the SF lady, you are right, we don’t know all the facts, but with those provided, its clear you’d be looking for someone else to blame. Shame on you and anyone else that would seek payment for the of their children in a loss they caused!
… and people wonder why no one helped the good samaritan in New York. Getting involved exposes you to liability, slimy lawyers and idiotic juries. If I see someone bleeding to death I will run the other way, fast. I can only hope its a lawyer bleeding to death.
Indigent minorities comprise the majority of the population of Camden. Guess who comprises the majority of elected officials? Guess who approved this gratuitous payment? The city must have had a self-insured retention so the money probably came out of it’s coffers. It’s the crappies city in the state and can ill-afford to make these kinds of payments.
I think I would do better in front of a firing squad! LOL! :)
Again, I tell you that I am the FIRST to advocate for the safety of the children by holding the parents responsible for their own negligence for not supervising their children, however, I asked what would YOU do?? What if the shoe were on the other foot? Would you be so quick to blame yourselves?? I think not! that’s why I am playing the devil’s advocate…you just don’t know what you would do in a situation like this…
Money’s not going to replace the kids. Don’t know the whole story, so I can’t make an informed judgment on if the money paid was warranted or not. I can tell you this, if I was the insurance company handling this one, don’t think I’d want to parade the parents of two dead children in front of a jury just to be right. The real tragedy? Two deaths that could have been prevented. I could give two rat tail shakes about the lawyer or the money, I’ll probably never see either one of them in my lifetime. The true sadness is that we’ve broken down everything, our feelings, our lives, our children, everything to who’s right and who’s wrong and how much should someone get or not get for it. Been handling claims for over twenty years, and I never get used to this crap, and the day I do, I’ll retire.
What an unimaginable tragedy.
Three young boys perish for a whole bunch of reasons: improper parenting/supervision, uncared for car nearby, no one accepting their own responsibility to watch for these little ones.
Well, the settlement may (just may) ease the pain for the families. I hope they use it to educate their children, and do things to improve their lives.
The Policeman should have no doubts placed upon him.
In the best of worlds, he would’ve, should’ve, could’ve opened that trunk, but friends, we don’t live in the best of worlds.
Stuff happens and By God, it did
For me, the key is not establishing fault.. we can spread the fault all around…-it’s establising a prevention so that this may never happen again.
-The outside of the trunk shoud have a weather-proof decal showing how to open the trunk from the inside. ]
This should be made law on all cars.
A decal has a low cost
Lives cost more.
And a publicity campaign funded by the car manufacturers should start.
This is not the first time we’ve lost a young one who clambored into the trunk of a car
The parents will survive, the City will live on, and the carriers which paid the settlement will move on to the next one.
The only real losers were those three young lads
Say a prayer for them.
I did
And….how long were these kids outside without ANY ADULT SUPERVISION??? And you’re trying to tell me that an 11 year old thinks it’s ok to play in the trunk of a car.
I agree! And why in the world did Toyota give them money??? How were they to blame, because it just so happened to be a Toyota that this happened in. THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!
When this story first came out, it was revealed that a police officer was looking under the Toyota when the parents said that the missing kids had been seen at a local pizza shop. So, the search shifted to the pizza shop.
Why didn’t the parents look in the trunk? Why do adults produce children and not watch over them? Why can’t we have tort reform in this country?
California will sink into the ocean due to a quake in the near future…then we won’t have to worry about that crew, just the rest of the states full of ID-10 T errors.
Reminds me of all the children who died after climbing into abandoned refridgerators and shutting the door before it became a law (let’s not use common sense – we must have a law!) that all abandoned refrigerators have to have the door removed before it’s left anywhere. Abandoned refrigerators are considered an attractive nuisense/hazard to children and the owner of the abandoned appliance was held repsonsible. An abandoned car? Remove the trunk lid – common sense. But I agree with most of hte posts here that the parents share a great deal of reponsibility here and I don;t see how it’s the fault of hte police or toyota.
The drug addicted parents put the kids in the trunk, and told the police they were last seen at the pizza shop. They now have $1 million (after scum bag attorneys fees) to spend on drugs. The parents will have 3 more kids and get $1800/month per kid on welfare. What a great country. One of those kids could have been the next Thomas Edison, or a great doctor or (fill in the blank). Welfare (redistribution of wealth) is the worst thing that ever happened to this country.
GET REAL!! There are good people out there that accept responsibility even when they face loss & could have sued for a windfall. My grandson was hit by a commerical tow truck and tossed 20 feet breaking multiple bones including his skull, was in a coma and hospitalized for months. We never considered hiring an attorney even when we didn’t think he was going to live; we even invited the driver to the hospital. It was a tragic accident as is the death of these kids. Before calling the police, the family must have searched…& if it didn’t require a key to get into the trunk the family would have been far more likely to know that than the police.
I read this article awhile back and no one has ever answered the question…why did not the parents look in the car…were they not searching for their children or was it only the responsibility of the Police?
Once again, someone else is responsible for the misfortunes of others. Yes its a tragedy. No the police were not at fault. To say that the Police should have looked in the trunk is equal to saying that the parents should have told the kids that playing in a car is a no no. Don’t the parents have any liability here? It makes me sick that there are no such things as tragic accidents that are not anyone’s fault.
I want my redistribution of wealth!!!!!
Another fine example of: We should blame everyone else for our problems….
Because the parents couldn’t sue themselves to obtain financial gain.
Hey….. I have an idea. Lets put all the Liars (lawyers) into a big trunk and forget about them until they die. They will all be gone, so there will be nonone to sue us and everyone will be able to do their job without the fear of being sued.
One more example of where this country is headed. No responsibility, no accountability. As much as I love this country I could not be more disgusted with what it has become.
How is that the cops fault? Shouldn’t they only be held liable if they are the ones who PUT the kids in the truck?
If you follow this reasoning – people who get lost hiking or fall off of a cliff could sue the searcher party if things don’t turn out right?!
What in the world are we coming to?
Wouldn’t your granparents turn over in their graves?!
This settlement is an atrocity and neither the city nor the police were negligent or liable. This sum of money is more than these people would ever have hoped to see in their lifetime. This just encourages people to look to the city for a handout everytime something bad happens.
The parents obviously weren’t supervising their kids and did a poor job of looking for them. It’s speculative and doubtful they were alive when the cops checked the car or they would have made some noise. I’m sure the person who abandoned the car isn’t collectable.
Why didn’t the Toyota have a safety release in the trunk? My Chevy has that. I guess Toyota’s not that great after all…
Because it was an old Toyota. Nobody had the trunk releases back then. Trunk releases were mandated by the feds in the late 90s.
Just remember the standard quote given for the suit is always, “It is not about the money.”
And you have won the Irish Sweepstakes too, just send me your bank account informationso I can wire the winnings to you.
The Cruz family owned the car! Yet they are plaintiffs as well…how can this be? Do they not have a duty to remove what has proven to be an attractive nuisance from their yard? I tend to agree with the comments about where this country now finds itself. Scary.
This is a a terible thing that happened to these boys……….but the parents didn’t check the trunk of a car in thier own yard. Please , parents must be accountable for your own childrens safety. How long was the abandoned car in the yard? The parents did nothing prior to this event tragic?
No one should be blamed for this other than the parents. They should have known where their children were playing. As someone stated before….”were they not looking for their children as well”. This is sad. Considering the state the country is in right now that this amount of money would be awarded. This never should have made it to court.
The Cruz family more than likely were approached by bottom feeding, money grubbing, lawyers (term used very lightly)in the local area who monitor police radios, and hang out outside emergency rooms and such. The billboards, TV commercials, newpapers and yellow pages are full of these dirt bags looking for 33% of the settlements. This litigated portion of our society sucks.
This will be a boost to the economy. Once the attorney’s take their exhorbitant share, the pf’s will be out of $$ within a year ‘cuz they spent it all.
The lives of three children are invaluable and the losses suffered are incalculable. Yet, how were the police to blame? $2.5 M worth? I repeat, how? The one telling phrase: “…but no one checked the trunk of the Toyota Camry parked in the Cruz family’s yard.” Where were the parents? Siblings? Friends? Are they blameworthy? Did they get sued? If this was my family’s tragic loss, we would ponder how we had failed; not to blaming the good faith efforts of police, neighbors and others. Yet, it must be remembered this tragedy occurred in New Jersey–not Idaho.
Ok…Ok…I would usually be the first one to pipe up about parents’ responsibility for their children. I am all for it and I get it. There is no excuse, BUT….I wonder how many people here, who have kids would be saying the same thing if it happened to them? Stop and think about it. I don’t have all the details about this unfortunate occurence, however, but I am curious as to WHY didn’t the police check the trunk of the car? Aren’t they trained? The parents may have taken their word that they checked everywhere. Perhaps the police admitted their own negligence in failing to check the trunk? Also, why doesn’t the Camry have a safety latch on the inside? Is the Camry in this article that old of an automobile that didn’t have a safety latch on the inside fo the trunk?
Yes, we can easily preach about the responsiblity of the parents, I am the first to agree…however, this is such a tragedy…I think that if those were my own children, I would be so distraught
about the whole situation you would have to hold me down to keep me from going insane…
Your kidding me right???????
Calculating the value of the human life has been in existence for 100 years in this country. Life actuaries, agents and the industry should be in the mix to get tort reform changed to anything but the open ended chaos we have now. Congress…get off the dime and go to work on Tort Reform. But first, place blame where blame is due…not Toyota, not the city…not anyone but the lame parents who can’t seem to keep track of their own kids. A bigger blame should be directed at the scum bag lawyers who benefit the most from the problems of others.
Remember this is a SETTLEMENT…not a jury award. If the defense lawyers weren’t draining the insurance companies, more would try these type of cases and let juries decide. I want to think that a jury of their peers would find the parents responsible for this tragedy….not the police.
Get real. First the Toyota was an older model that did not require a safety latch in the trunk so don’t blame Toyota, that’s the easy way out. Two, is it law enforcement’s responsibility to solve all of our problems? Where are they negligent? As a previous post notes, are we supposed to hold every search and rescue team responsible for not finding those lost in the outdoors? Why didn’t the irresponsible parents remove that vehicle? Did they leave the trunk open or was the lock not functional and if so they probably knew about it. You’re right, we may not have all the details so there are many assumptions but where do you draw the line on responsibility? Don’t give me your liberal spin. Regardless of how tragic this incident was, which it was without question, that is still no excuse to pass the blame in order to line your pockets. As I said before, this country is a mess.
What a sad story. I hurt for those kids. What terrible parents they had. The parents were negligent for not watching the kids in the front yard. What is not provided, is how long were the kids in the car prior to the parents looking for them? How long before they called the police? Why were the parents not taken to jail for child neglect? Who in their right mind allows an 11 year old supervise 5 and6 year old children in the front yard? These poor kids found one danger, how long before reached the street? Its obvious these negligent parents were not paying attention.
So what if the car did not have a safety release in the trunk. Would any of those kids known of it?
Its outrageos to think that anyone is to blame but these negligent parents! They should be jailed for negligent homicide!
As far the SF lady, you are right, we don’t know all the facts, but with those provided, its clear you’d be looking for someone else to blame. Shame on you and anyone else that would seek payment for the of their children in a loss they caused!
Is it possible to kick San Francisco out of the United States??? Maybe a kind of forced secession or something?
… and people wonder why no one helped the good samaritan in New York. Getting involved exposes you to liability, slimy lawyers and idiotic juries. If I see someone bleeding to death I will run the other way, fast. I can only hope its a lawyer bleeding to death.
Indigent minorities comprise the majority of the population of Camden. Guess who comprises the majority of elected officials? Guess who approved this gratuitous payment? The city must have had a self-insured retention so the money probably came out of it’s coffers. It’s the crappies city in the state and can ill-afford to make these kinds of payments.
I think I would do better in front of a firing squad! LOL! :)
Again, I tell you that I am the FIRST to advocate for the safety of the children by holding the parents responsible for their own negligence for not supervising their children, however, I asked what would YOU do?? What if the shoe were on the other foot? Would you be so quick to blame yourselves?? I think not! that’s why I am playing the devil’s advocate…you just don’t know what you would do in a situation like this…
Money’s not going to replace the kids. Don’t know the whole story, so I can’t make an informed judgment on if the money paid was warranted or not. I can tell you this, if I was the insurance company handling this one, don’t think I’d want to parade the parents of two dead children in front of a jury just to be right. The real tragedy? Two deaths that could have been prevented. I could give two rat tail shakes about the lawyer or the money, I’ll probably never see either one of them in my lifetime. The true sadness is that we’ve broken down everything, our feelings, our lives, our children, everything to who’s right and who’s wrong and how much should someone get or not get for it. Been handling claims for over twenty years, and I never get used to this crap, and the day I do, I’ll retire.
My mistake, and even sadder, 3 kids.
Actually, there were three (3) victims, TN.
So true, TN!
No other comment necessary.
Would it change anything except to perpetuate the blame game?
Because they did not look in the trunk? Of the family’s own car (or at least a car that was on their premises)?
What an unimaginable tragedy.
Three young boys perish for a whole bunch of reasons: improper parenting/supervision, uncared for car nearby, no one accepting their own responsibility to watch for these little ones.
Well, the settlement may (just may) ease the pain for the families. I hope they use it to educate their children, and do things to improve their lives.
The Policeman should have no doubts placed upon him.
In the best of worlds, he would’ve, should’ve, could’ve opened that trunk, but friends, we don’t live in the best of worlds.
Stuff happens and By God, it did
For me, the key is not establishing fault.. we can spread the fault all around…-it’s establising a prevention so that this may never happen again.
-The outside of the trunk shoud have a weather-proof decal showing how to open the trunk from the inside. ]
This should be made law on all cars.
A decal has a low cost
Lives cost more.
And a publicity campaign funded by the car manufacturers should start.
This is not the first time we’ve lost a young one who clambored into the trunk of a car
The parents will survive, the City will live on, and the carriers which paid the settlement will move on to the next one.
The only real losers were those three young lads
Say a prayer for them.
I did
And….how long were these kids outside without ANY ADULT SUPERVISION??? And you’re trying to tell me that an 11 year old thinks it’s ok to play in the trunk of a car.
I agree! And why in the world did Toyota give them money??? How were they to blame, because it just so happened to be a Toyota that this happened in. THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!
When this story first came out, it was revealed that a police officer was looking under the Toyota when the parents said that the missing kids had been seen at a local pizza shop. So, the search shifted to the pizza shop.
Why didn’t the parents look in the trunk? Why do adults produce children and not watch over them? Why can’t we have tort reform in this country?
California will sink into the ocean due to a quake in the near future…then we won’t have to worry about that crew, just the rest of the states full of ID-10 T errors.
If the cops had searched the trunk (without a search warrant) they would have been sued for racial profiling.
Reminds me of all the children who died after climbing into abandoned refridgerators and shutting the door before it became a law (let’s not use common sense – we must have a law!) that all abandoned refrigerators have to have the door removed before it’s left anywhere. Abandoned refrigerators are considered an attractive nuisense/hazard to children and the owner of the abandoned appliance was held repsonsible. An abandoned car? Remove the trunk lid – common sense. But I agree with most of hte posts here that the parents share a great deal of reponsibility here and I don;t see how it’s the fault of hte police or toyota.
Who knows how old the toyota was. It may have been an older modl and therefore wouldn’t have a realease.
The drug addicted parents put the kids in the trunk, and told the police they were last seen at the pizza shop. They now have $1 million (after scum bag attorneys fees) to spend on drugs. The parents will have 3 more kids and get $1800/month per kid on welfare. What a great country. One of those kids could have been the next Thomas Edison, or a great doctor or (fill in the blank). Welfare (redistribution of wealth) is the worst thing that ever happened to this country.
GET REAL!! There are good people out there that accept responsibility even when they face loss & could have sued for a windfall. My grandson was hit by a commerical tow truck and tossed 20 feet breaking multiple bones including his skull, was in a coma and hospitalized for months. We never considered hiring an attorney even when we didn’t think he was going to live; we even invited the driver to the hospital. It was a tragic accident as is the death of these kids. Before calling the police, the family must have searched…& if it didn’t require a key to get into the trunk the family would have been far more likely to know that than the police.