Dax Tejera’s widow’s arrest for child endangerment

[Anonymous]

She made a poor decision during a moment of great stress. I think she was in the wrong and the charges were warranted but there were mitigating factors such that she should hopefully not serve jail time for this misdemeanor charge. Some may say she had no excuse - should have waited for someone to come to hotel room or taken an Uber with kids to the hospital until someone could come to help watch them.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/abc-news-producer-dax-tejeras-widow-says-she-was-monitoring-her-children-in-nyc-hotel-before-arrest/ar-AA15Uqdg

[Anonymous]

But that says she left them alone in the hotel even before his heart attack.

Did they go on a date or something? Was he freaked out about the kids alone in the hotel?

[Anonymous]

Good lord, leave this woman alone.

[Anonymous]

The article reads as though his death happened outside the hotel, that they left the girls and went out, and then while they were out he died. Maybe I am misreading?

[Anonymous]

The children were alone before any medical issues, charges seem legit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The children were alone before any medical issues, charges seem legit

Very true: Dax Tejera's widow says she WAS monitoring her children in NYC hotel
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11593563/ABC-News-producer-Dax-Tejeras-widow-says-monitoring-children-NYC-hotel.html

Cameras are no substitute for having an adult available to tend to an infant and toddler. Why not get a babysitter before leaving two young children alone in a hotel room, especially at their income level? Emergencies happen

[Anonymous]

How does a camera help if you see your child choking or see an intruder? And if you're enjoying dinner with friends, are you really watching the camera? Scary.

[Anonymous]

Charges are very appropriate. You never leave kids that age home alone. There is no excuse not to hire a sitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does a camera help if you see your child choking or see an intruder? And if you're enjoying dinner with friends, are you really watching the camera? Scary.

Tragic all around, of course, but you do wonder about people. I can see a solo person making a bad decision, e.g., leaving a sleeping child in car while you run into dry cleaners- poor judgment, but you sort of understand it. I find this choice made by two parents at this level of education and privilege a puzzler. I can only guess at big egos and high social needs. I predict a rapid re-marriage, hard to envision her focusing solely on her children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Charges are very appropriate. You never leave kids that age home alone. There is no excuse not to hire a sitter.

+1 Imagine if a fire had happened?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The article reads as though his death happened outside the hotel, that they left the girls and went out, and then while they were out he died. Maybe I am misreading?

That’s my understanding, too but not sure.

[Anonymous]

Listen, I've absolutely left my very young kids home alone while I've run out for various reasons. However. It was never for me to go out having fun, but to accomplish something specific - meet an older kid at the bus down the block, show a workman a problem on the property outside the house, etc..

[Anonymous]

Another article stated they went to dinner a block away and had cameras on the kids. He had the heart attack while they were out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The article reads as though his death happened outside the hotel, that they left the girls and went out, and then while they were out he died. Maybe I am misreading?

That’s my understanding, too but not sure.

What isn’t clear? They were 1 block away from the hotel when he died. Both parents. Wife then gets in ambulance and asks a friend and her parents to go and get the kids from the hotel room. The hotel refuses to allow anyone to enter the room and calls the police. Wife says this is NBD because she had 2 cameras on the kids and was monitoring from her phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does a camera help if you see your child choking or see an intruder? And if you're enjoying dinner with friends, are you really watching the camera? Scary.

NP. Agree, a camera is useless if a child is in imminent danger and you're not near enough to do anything.

The circumstances -- of the issue with the children, totally apart from Tejera's tragic death -- remind me of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. He parentsr left her (age 3) and her 2-year-old twin siblings alone in a rented apartment while the parents went out to dinner. The restaurant was only 180 feet from the ground floor apartment and supposedly the parents checked on the kids in person at some, or several, points, but she was kidnapped by someone who entered the apartment while the parents were at dinner, and she has never been found.

You just don't leave young children alone like that. Even if you're just feet away. Socializing and dining, which is going to distract you no matter how much you check in via camera or in person.

At first I thought for sure that Tejera's widow must have been with the kids and frantically rushed out in a total and understandable panic, leaving them. But knowing that both parents chose this setup with no thought for fire, choking, the thousand other things a young kid can get into--wow, that gobsmacks me.