BY JOHN AFFLECK
The Associated Press
PARMA — A man who failed to switch off an air bag that deployed in an accident and killed his infant son was sentenced Monday to two 12-hour days in jail — the boy's birthday and the crash anniversary.
Dwight Childs, 29, of Broadview Heights is thought to be the first person sentenced for failing to switch off an air bag, according to the American Automobile Association.
“Anything I do won't matter,” Parma Municipal Court Judge Kenneth Spanagel told Mr. Childs, who hung his head and grimaced during his sentencing. “Your personal guilt — you're going to carry.”
Mr. Childs pleaded no contest last month to charges of vehicular homicide and running a red light in the death of his 2-month-old son, Jacob.
The air bag in Mr. Childs' Ford F-150 deployed after the truck crashed into another truck at an intersection in this Cleveland suburb. The boy was strapped into a rear-facing car seat and suffered massive head injuries.
While no law required Mr. Childs to disengage the air bag, prosecutors decided to charge him because the truck and the car seat had stickers warning the device should be switched off in such circumstances.
Prosecutors decided not to press more serious charges because Mr. Childs lost his only son in the crash.
Judge Spanagel also showed some leniency. He could have given Mr. Childs up to seven months in jail and $1,250 in fines.
Instead, he sentenced him to 180 days in jail but suspended 178 days of the sentence as long as Mr. Childs helps produce public service announcements about air bag safety. He ordered Mr. Childs to spend 12 hours in prison on each of two separate days — the anniversary of the accident, May 16, and of his son's birthday, March 21.
“You didn't flip the switch,” Judge Spanagel said, explaining the jail time. “You also ran the light.”
Judge Spanagel fined Mr. Childs $500 and suspended his driver's license for three years, except for trips to work, church and medical care.
Mr. Childs, a metal shop foreman, did not speak at his sentencing. David Van Sickle, a AAA spokesman, said the case is the first he knows of in which someone has been charged for failing to turn off an air bag since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration allowed cutoff switches in pickup trucks and autos with no back seat in 1995.
