Woman won’t face prosecution in death of 3-year-old left in car

Stephen Curran and Christina Littlefield

Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2004 | 10:52 a.m.

A Henderson woman will not face criminal prosecution for the death of her 3-year-old son, who died July 26 after being left in the family car for almost an hour, the Clark County District Attorney said.

Diana Olsen, 39, left her son Christian alone in the vehicle July 25 while she went inside the home to get a snack. Once inside, she joined other parents to practice a song for an upcoming funeral, her husband Bill Olsen told the Sun.

The temperature during that time rose to about 107 degrees.

When she went outside, she found her son was lethargic and took him to the hospital. He died the next day.

Olsen said the family had worried about the charges as they grieved their loss.

"Obviously it's a relief that we don't have to face that in addition to the loss we already suffered," Bill Olsen said.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said representatives from his office looked over Henderson Police reports and concluded that Olsen did not intentionally leave her young son in the car and would not be subject to prosecution.

"We rely on the police investigation to make that determination and there is no evidence presented by police that suggested that Mrs. Olsen intentionally left her child in the car," he said.

The Nevada statute that applies to prosecution of parents who leave their children in hot cars says that it only rises to abuse if a parent "willfully" leaves the child alone, Roger said.

Bill Olsen said, "I think it's just. It was an accident and there was no intent."

Olsen said the family is thankful but still grieving and also said this incident would be something they would be dealing with for several years.

They were grateful, he said, for the community support they have received since the boy's death.

Last summer local teacher David Fish also avoided prosecution for leaving his sleeping son Hayden in a van while he went to work. Like Olsen, Fish did not face criminal charges as the case was deemed unintentional.

The mother of another child, 2-year-old ShyAnn Raynor, also avoided prosecution when her daughter died because the district attorney's office determined it was accidental. The girl was left in a car outside her home for two hours.

At the time of the Olsen case, Metro Police said they had responded to more than 50 calls this summer. Henderson officers said they have seen only a handful.

As of July 31 the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Department has responded to 340 reported incidents of children being locked in cars this year, spokesman Tim Szymanski said. Last year there were 596 calls. The numbers reflect only the reports and not how many children had been left alone in a car, Szymanski said.

The district attorney's office routinely charges parents who are believed to have intentionally left their children in cars, Roger said. Parents were arrested on child neglect charges for five out of seven cases in a string of incidents back in May, where the parents typically left their children in the car while they ran into a store.

In one case, Maria Guadalupe Avila, 28, pleaded guilty in June to a misdemeanor charge for leaving her two-year-old daughter in a Costco parking lot for 20 minutes in early May. The little girl was unharmed, and Avila received probation, paid a fine and was ordered to take parenting classes.

Another parent, Kathy Lizanne Lawson, 28, pleaded guilty in June to one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct after leaving her 8-month-old twins in her car while she went shopping at a Burlington Coat Factory in Las Vegas in late April. The twins were warm but unhurt, police said.

Someone charged with child abuse and neglect can face two to 20 years in prison if convicted, Roger said.

Olsen is the first child to have died this year after being left alone in a hot car, authorities said. Fish's son was one of two children who died under similar circumstances in 2003.

Nationwide, 74 children have died this year in 246 incidents involved a total of 317 kids, according to July 27 totals from Kids and Cars, a safety group.

Kids and Cars and the Fish family launched two public awareness campaigns this early this summer to warn parents of the dangers of leaving children in cars.

The issue has also spurred possible legislation.

Sen. Valerie Weiner, D-Las Vegas, is expected to propose a bill in the 2005 Legislature that would levy a $300 fine against parents found guilty of who leaving a child under 7 years old alone in a vehicle.