Theodore Pressman left his parents in the car

[sherrz]

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - A man who police say left his elderly, infirm parents in a sweltering car while he drove a bus route for three hours was charged with reckless endangerment Tuesday. His father died, but his mother made it out of the vehicle.

Theodore Pressman left his parents in his black Suzuki in a Peekskill parking lot Monday, as outdoor temperatures reached the mid-80s, police said. The car was in full sun with its windows closed and temperatures inside reached well over 100 degrees, they said.

Peekskill police Detective Sgt. Eric Johansen said police often are alerted to cases of animals or even children left in hot cars, but the case against Pressman was a first for him.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080708/ap_on_re_us/car_death

wow is all i can say to this.

**oh and this is my first thread (with me actually starting it), so hopefully i did it right.. i read the forum about posting, and i think this is a decent summary**

[Jaded]

Well now....that's a switch. :twitch:

[Countess Olenska]

http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/ap_lockedcardeath_080708_mn.jpg

[Jaded]

He. Looks. Evil. :eek2:

[Lizard]

Why can't you see his fangs in this photo? Somebody hand me a sharp wooden stake, quick!

[sherrz]

God I looked for his mug all over the place, and I finally found it but couldn't figure out how to imbed it into a post (cause I'm dumb like that.) Thanks mamma.. He's one weird lookin' guy...........

[Dakota Valkyrie]

At a court appearance, Pressman, looking frail himself, was held on $10,000 bail and was ordered to stay away from his mother.

The 48-year-old argued with the judge over that condition, saying, "I know what she needs. ... I have to make sure she has food."

A check of neighboring police departments showed that Pressman had often left his parents "at restaurants, delis, McDonald's" while he worked as a bus driver. "This was a frequent practice, but as far as we know he had not left them in a car before," said Peekskill police Detective Sgt. Eric Johansen.

I think he may not be "all there". Dumbshit. If he had prior LE contact, he knew what he was doing was wrong. (Just in case he was too stupid to figure it out himself.)

[Unamused Cat]

That is just sad. Are they going to take his parents away from him?

[SNOOKIE]

oh my he is weird looking-gives me the willies:jaw:

[Dakota Valkyrie]

This one has really had me thinking.

Given his previous LE contacts, why was he allowed to keep his folks? Is he "off" and loved his parents deeply and didn't want them in a "home"? Maybe he didn't know of services available or felt he couldn't afford care??

Why didn't he just leave them at home alone? Granted, no better than the car, but I'm curious. I wonder if he actually thought he was being kind and loving or if he was a mean spirited bitter caretaker. Yeah, I know leaving 'em in the car was far from loving but was he at "wits end" and overwhelmed with their care?

Since I'm closer to "elderly" than I am to "toddler", I hope my kids have a couple more brain cells than this dude if the need arises...

[Jaded]

I have decided that I'm offin' myself before my children will be allowed to care for me in my old age. Not saying that they would leave me to fry in the car, put me in an abusive retirement home or die on the couch and just lay there all dead and stuff for months....but, I don't want them getting even with me for grounding them from *insert technical device here* ;)

[Dakota Valkyrie]

http://i49.tinypic.com/10fb0p5.jpg[...]
A Peekskill City Court jury of four women and two men found Theodore Pressman, 49, of Beacon guilty of the misdemeanor charge in connection with the July 7, 2008, death of Joseph Pressman in the parking lot of the Atrium building on John Walsh Boulevard.

Pressman, who frequently left his elderly parents alone in coffee shops and restaurants in Peekskill and Dutchess County while he went to work, is scheduled to be sentenced on March 15, 2010. He is free on $10,000 bond.

Assistant District Attorney Heide Mason argued that even though Pressman was portrayed as a loving, dedicated son, he should have known better than to leave his parents alone because each suffered from dementia and they were unable to care for each other.

His father and his 76-year-old mother, Joyce, were left in Pressman’s black Suzuki that afternoon with the doors open but the windows up. Their son took the keys when he went to work across the street at Miles Square Transportation. When he returned from his bus run about three hours later, Joyce Pressman was outside the car but Joseph was dead inside with the doors closed and the windows up. Authorities estimated that it reached 120 degrees in the car.
[...]

The incident drew attention to the struggles of grown children who are put into the role of caregivers for elderly parents suffering physical and mental deterioration.

In addition to both parents’ dementia, Joseph Pressman, a former architect, had various physical ailments. Pressman still cares for his mother. Both mother and son took the stand during the three-day trial.

In court last year, Howard Levin, a Yorktown doctor who treated Joyce Pressman, described Theodore Pressman as mentally slow but someone who looked after his parents "graciously and tenderly." Pressman has one brother who lives in a group home.

"The law must be obeyed but there was no malice intended," Levin said Friday. "The sentence should be mitigated by the fact that he did it out of love. He should not serve any time in jail."

The depth of the Pressmans’ dependency on their son was evident after his arrest when a city judge modified an order of protection allowing Pressman to have supervised visits with his mother, who also suffers from anorexia and would only eat, Tendy said, when her son was present.

Peekskill Police Chief Eugene Tumolo initially called Joseph Pressman’s death a "homicide," however the medical examiner could not determine the exact cause of death, so Pressman was only charged with two misdemeanors counts of reckless endangerment, one of which City Judge William Maher dismissed.

Police in Beacon, where the family has two homes, became aware of how Pressman was caring for his parents when the owner of the Muddy Cup coffeehouse called to complain that he had left them in the shop for six hours a night, four nights in a row. Beacon police said they notified adult protective services but, due to the July 4 holiday, the agency did not contact the family right away. Joseph Pressman died six days later.

The coffee shop is now closed.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20091121/NEWS01/911210331/1006/news01