Police: Girl, 5, said she drowned boy over crying
KANSAS CITY, MO
Kansas City police said the girl, who was left with other
children in the care of a teenager, was considered a possible
suspect in the toddler's death last week, raising complicated legal
questions about how a court could proceed with a case against such
a young suspect.
Bart Lubow, the director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group
at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national child advocacy
organization based in Baltimore, said a 5-year-old is incapable of
forming intent, and likely wouldn't even know what drowning means.
"You can imagine a child responding to other children's crying
by saying, `I know how to stop that.' But the notion that there was
intent there is silly," Lubow said. "For a 5-year-old, this is
well beyond the pale of what our criminal or delinquency laws are
intended to address."
He said the case should proceed with a "very child-centered
approach."
Police said the 5-year-old was not arrested, and the case was
referred to the Jackson County's family courts division.
Police originally ruled Friday's death accidental, but said that
changed after social workers reported that the girl told them she
brought the toddler into the bathroom and drowned him.
"The 5-year-old became upset when the child wouldn't stop
crying and took the 2-year-old into the bathroom and drowned him,"
said Officer Darin Snapp, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police
Department. He said the two children were related, but it was
unclear exactly how.
"As of right now yes, from her statement, she is a possible
suspect," Snapp said.
The children had been left along with others under the
supervision of a teenager while an adult in the home went to pick
up the father of the 18-month-old, Snapp said. He said the father
had recently arrived in Kansas City to take the infant back to
their home in St. Louis. It was unclear how long the adult was out
of the home.
Mary Jacobi, a spokeswoman for the Jackson County Court, said
she could not comment on the girl's current whereabouts.
"We cannot speak at all to the child's current living
arrangement," she said.
She said in an email that the Missouri Children's Division had
been notified and that a juvenile officer involved in the case had
filed a petition for a child in need of care for the 5-year-old.
Such a petition would allow the court to determine what services
the child needs.
Seth Bundy, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Social
Services, said the department could not comment on the case, as did
Debra Walker, spokeswoman for the state Department of Mental
Health.
In Missouri, a child has to be 12-years-old before he or she can
be certified to stand trial, said Vivian Murphy, executive director
of the Missouri Juvenile Justice Association. Murphy, who said she
was not involved with the Kansas City case, said in general, a
child in such a situation would undergo a mental health evaluation
and that there would be an investigation into the child's living
situation.
"It's all about what's best for the 5-year-old," she said.
"The family court in Kansas City is going to do a good job of just
looking at the circumstances holistically with the 5-year-old and
looking at their environment and look at what's going on."