Charges against parents sought

Erica D. Johnson

Tuesday, June 17, 2003 | 11:11 a.m.

Less than a week after declining to press charges against a man whose child died after being left all day in a hot car, Clark County prosecutors will pursue charges in two cases in which children were left in their parents' cars but found unharmed, District Attorney David Roger said this morning.

Roger said gross misdemeanor charges are warranted against Maria Door, whose 16-month-old son, Edwin, was strapped in the car alone June 3 when the car was stolen, and Won Chong, who left his 18-month-old son, Kyle, in the backseat of his car while he went into a Starbucks on June 6.

In a memo to Metro Police released this morning, Roger said both parents "willfully placed their children in a situation where the children might have suffered unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering."

Door and Chong each could face one year in jail or a $2,000 fine, he said.

Prosecutors determined that the cases differ from that of David Fish, whose 7-month-old son died after being left in a van for eight hours while Fish went to work, Roger said.

The memo states that unlike the case in which the child died, the cases of Chung and Door, "provide evidence that the defendants willfully placed their children in harm's way."

Roger last week announced that Fish would not face charges because his actions were accidental.

Prosecutors still have not received from Metro Police a third case of a 1-year-old girl who was treated for dehydration after her mother left her in a car for an hour, Roger said.

"These cases couldn't be better examples of how there is a hole in Nevada's law," said Janette Fennell, president of Kids and Cars, a nonprofit based at San Francisco General Hospital that tracks cases of children left in cars nationwide.

"Now I'm sure the common person is going to say, 'What do you mean? The baby died and the father wasn't charged, and these other ones were?' "

According to court documents, a Metro officer noticed Chong's Toyota Camry while driving in the neighborhood near the Starbucks.

The child was sleeping in the backseat and was unharmed. The motor of the car was running and the doors were unlocked.

An arrest affidavit states that an officer went into the Starbucks to look for the owner of the vehicle.

When the officer found Chong, Chong said "he wasn't thinking, he was just planning on going in the store for a moment to get a cup of coffee."

Chong further stated that "his child had been up all night crying and finally went to sleep and he did not want to disturb him," according to the report.

Officers arrested Chong at the scene and booked him into the Clark County Detention Center. He will be arraigned on July 7 before Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo.

Prosecutors' decision to press charges against Door came after an additional investigation by investigators, Roger said.

According to the memo, Door had parked her vehicle about 40 feet from Vegas Shoe Store located at 4530 Meadows Lane. The car's motor was running and the doors were unlocked.

The memo states that a store security officer saw Door approaching the store and opened the door for her.

"As the defendant walked towards the store, she continued to look back in the direction of her car," the memo states.

The security officer told police that Door was in the store for "no more than a minute, minute and a half before she ran out screaming when her car was stolen."

Door told police that "she intended to simply check to see if the store was open before returning to her car to awaken her child," the memo states.

Police found the car later at a gas station with the motor running. The child was unharmed.

Roger said the state Legislature has not specifically held that leaving a child in an unattended vehicle, in and of itself, constitutes child neglect.

The statute defines neglect as physical or mental injury of a "non-accidental" nature, he said.

Fennel's organization worked on legislation in the last session that would have provided what she called "a middle ground ... between giving parents a scolding and pressing charges of child endangerment, which can be too extreme."

Senate Bill 17, which would have levied a $300 fine against parents who leave their children in cars, didn't make it out of the Assembly.

"We need a law about prevention," Fennell said. "Once that is in place, you can do education and say, 'There is a $300 fine, it is illegal to leave your kids in cars.' "