Bad Parental Decisions

Culminating in a "blame the cops" scenario:

• Just 40 minutes before a Steger man caused a drunken crash that killed a 5-year-old boy, Chicago Heights police allowed him to get behind the wheel, authorities said.

  Police Chief Michael Camilli said the officer didn’t suspect Cecil Conner, 22, had been drinking when he sent him on the road at 2:35 a.m. Monday after arresting the car’s original driver.

The car's original driver was mom of course, driving suspended at 0230 AM. The Chicago Heights police turned the child and car over to boyfriend, who drove into a tree forty minutes later, killing the child. Tests indicate he was drunk and high at the time. So whose fault is it?

• Before the traffic stop, Conner and LaFond had been partying with friends at the Chicago Heights home of Dane D’Andrea, according to D’Andrea.

  Asked if Conner was intoxicated when he left, D’Andrea said, “sure, he was.”

  “I’m assuming the cops gave him the keys so the car wasn’t impounded, but they shouldn’t have let him (drive),” D’Andrea said.

• [Police Chief] Camilli said he did not know why Conner did not pick up LaFond after she was released from police custody shortly before 3 a.m.

No one at the party stopped him? No one at the party thought it was unusual for a 5 year old to be out partying with his mother and boyfriend at 0230 AM? No one questioned why a kindergartner wasn't home sleeping in the care of a babysitter or grandparent? Nope, all the fault of the police evidently.

And what about this odd photo Channel 5 decided to use on their website?

Color us jaded and cynical, but that doesn't appear to be what we'd call a "natural" position for a child's hands. Every other news outlet cropped out the bottom few inches, but NBC gives us an unintentional look at how this innocent child was being raised and the bad decisions that resulted in his untimely death.