Why Is It That Many Times after Faulty Wiring Causes a Fire That Catastrophically Burns or Kills a Child, a Finger Is Unjustly Pointed at the Parents?
Several weeks ago, a sweet and innocent 7-year-old girl was tragically burned to death in her Burlington County, New Jersey home as her four siblings attempted to rescue her. Immediate public opinion pointed a finger at the victim’s mother who was not home but had left her 14-year-old daughter in charge of the household to babysit while she had to quickly take care of a pressing family issue.
Posted blogs and public opinion attempted to blame the mother for leaving the children home alone without an adult, claiming that she was irresponsible. What these reports failed to mention was that Mom was a highly responsible individual and that the 14-year-old and other children in charge of the babysitting duties were well trained and that the 14-year-old was in fact was a highly responsible honor student. One can only imagine the emotional scarring and infliction of emotional distress sustained by Mom and the surviving siblings of the 7-year-old. While those who were quick to judge on the blogs claim it was due to matches or accidental fire caused by the children’s negligence, without conclusions to confirm the same, it strikes me that most of the public opinion blog postings were critically unfair, unfounded, judgmental, and prejudicial.
As one can imagine, the grieving mother, age 34, was interrogated by local detectives and those so quick to judge may fail to recognize or care about the real cause of the fire which took this precious young girl’s life.
In fact, the faulty and defective wiring and defective power strip located within the rental household were initially determined to have caused the fire.
Additionally, it is interesting to note that fire officials had to call in a tanker truck due to inadequate water supplies in the neighborhood required for quickly extinguishing the fire.
The experienced product liability lawyers of Reiff and Bily were called upon to investigate this tragic situation and our initial evaluation and investigation reveals just how far fetched the initial prejudicial blogs and public comments were concerning fault for this tragic loss.
Yes, I have seen this scenario before where parents are blamed for negligent supervision and for causing the death of their children due to irresponsibility resulting in tragic consequences, and it never ceases to amaze me how quick people are to jump to judgment without knowing all of the facts.
If you or a loved one sustained a catastrophic injury or wrongful death, don’t assume the facts to be as they initially appear or are represented by other individuals.
A little bit of knowledge or hypothesis by individuals who do not possess all of the facts or skills necessary to reach an objective conclusion can be a dangerous thing, and it pays to place an independent team of experienced catastrophic injury, wrongful death, and product liability lawyers on your side who will completely and independently investigate the situation, with no obligation, to let you know your alternatives.
The catastrophic burn injury and product liability lawyers of Reiff and Bily always offer a free, no obligation consultation, and we ask you to keep 7-year-old Lamiyah Graves and her family in your prayers.
