Thread: As Dad Plays Blackjack, Boy left in Brutal Cold

http://www.startribune.com/467/story/992413.html

As dad plays blackjack, boy is left in brutal cold
"I'm sorry," said a father accused of goinginto the casino to gamblewith his son outside in below-zero temperatures.

By Bob Von Sternberg and Bill McAuliffe, Star Tribune s taff w riters
Last update: February 10, 2007 – 12:50 AM




Handcuffed and glowering, Kang Sam Choi stood in a locked courtroom Friday afternoon and heard himself accused of endangering the life of his 4-year-old son by leaving the boy in a parked car on a subzero night while he played blackjack in a casino.
Speaking through a Korean interpreter, he said, "I will do the right thing ... I'm sorry."

Choi, 44, was charged with child endangerment, accused of leaving his son unattended in his parked car at Mystic Lake Casino on Wednesday night for nearly 90 minutes.

A customer found the boy wandering, gloveless and shivering, in the parking lot. He was suffering from mild hypothermia and faced potentially dire physical consequences, Prior Lake police and a hospital official said Friday.

"A reasonably prudent person can conclude that boy would have died, given the exposure and his body weight," said detective Chris Olson, who added that the boy's core body temperature was measured by paramedics at 94.5 degrees. "It would have been not more than several more minutes."

At the time the boy was found, the temperature was 7 degrees below zero with a 22-below windchill.

"This was egregious," Olson said. "We're all shaking our heads in disgust about it."

The child was taken by tribal emergency workers to St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee, where he was treated and then released to Hennepin County child protection officials, who were trying to reunite him with his mother.

In addition to being charged with child endangerment likely to cause substantial harm, a gross misdemeanor, Choi, of Brooklyn Park, was charged with giving false statements to police, a misdemeanor. Authorities said he gave an arresting officer a fictitious name.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Scott County District Court, Choi said he left his son sleeping in the car, which was not running, wearing a coat, hat and pants. He said he did not check on the boy from the time he arrived at the casino at 10:51 p.m. Wednesday until a casino security officer found Choi at 12:14 a.m. Thursday.

He told the officer he had gone to the casino to "play blackjack" and "win money."

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community operates a child care facility near the casino, but it is not offered as a service for casino customers and closes at 7 every evening.

Tribal attorney and spokesman Willie Hardacker said there have been other instances of children being left unattended in the parking lots, but very few.

"If it happens one time, it happens one time too many," Hardacker said. "The tribe doesn't want people bringing children to the casino and leaving them in their cars. Any time. It's inappropriate."

During Choi's 12-minute bail hearing, county prosecutor Neil Nelson told District Judge Diane Hanson, "This was a very dangerous situation for a 4-year-old out in the cold weather."

Immigration officials are in contact with the county attorney's office to assess Choi's residency status because they believe he is in the country illegally, Nelson said.

Hanson set Choi's bail at $8,000, an amount he said he was unable to meet. His next court appearance is set for 8:30 a.m. Monday.

Kids at higher risk

Greg Jones, charge nurse at St. Francis, said the boy was shivering and showing "lots of signs of extreme hypothermia" when he arrived at St. Francis. Jones said the boy was 5 to 10 minutes from "risking loss of life or limb."

Mary Ann McNeil, director of the Department of Emergency Medicine for the University of Minnesota Medical School, said that "94 is pretty terrible. He's getting into the life-threatening [range] at 94 and 93."Kids cool off much quicker than adults do," said McNeil, who stressed she was speaking in general terms and not directly about this case. "The reason is the body mass compared to the skin that kids have is uneven, way more skin than body mass."

Mild hypothermia, the first stage, is clinically defined as body core temperatures between 96.8 and 91.4 Fahrenheit.

While Prior Lake police and Mystic Lake officials said children have been left unattended in parking lots before, several sheriffs and casino security managers around the state said such incidents are rare. They credited surveillance and patrols in casino parking lots as well as the simple volume of customers coming and going.

Grand Casinos at Hinckley and Lake Mille Lacs offer activity centers with supervision for kids as young as 6 weeks. At Seven Clans Casino and Water Park in Thief River Falls, parents often leave kids under the supervision of lifeguards and pool attendants, said security director Herman Donnell.

Treasure Island Resort and Casino near Red Wing has a New Horizons child care center that operates late into the evening. General manager Frank Loth said he was unaware of any emergencies involving unattended children in his six years there.

Left at home

Ollie Stocker, lead evaluation counselor for the University of Minnesota Medical Center's Fairview Recovery Services, which treats people for chemical dependency and gambling addictions, said he doesn't think cases of child endangerment connected with gambling are common.

But he said he has dealt with two cases that were turned over to child protection workers when mothers left their children unsupervised at home to go gambling.

"I perceived those women to be excellent mothers," Stocker said. "They loved their kids. But this got to be consuming."

Stocker, who hasn't interviewed Choi, said compulsive gamblers can lose track of time and ignore basic responsibilities -- including work, bathing and eating -- while gambling.


Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report. vonste@startribune.com • 612-673-7184 mcaul@startribune.com • 612-673-7646

What the heck is wrong with our Courts. Just gave him only $8,000 bail. He shouldn't even get bail.

Around hear this would be a felony, I’m not just shaking my head, I’m shaking my fist. Reunite him with his mother, where the (beeep) was she in the first place ,