The Little Boy Named David Who Didn’t Deserve Death

I could not believe what I was reading in the article “Who Killed David Polreis?” (Feb. 21).

I cannot suspend my disbelief enough to accept that a 23-pound baby could do himself so much violence with two wooden spoons. I also cannot accept that because this child had an “attachment disorder” that he deserved to be killed.

It seems that a lot of the people who spoke for the article justified David’s death because the mother, Renee Polreis, couldn’t handle such a volatile child. If she couldn’t handle him and thought “If I start hitting him I’ll never stop,” then she should have done the responsible thing and put him where he could be treated.

Renee Polreis is getting support from the psychobabblers who are all to too eager to help people avoid their responsibilities by wrapping developmentally disabled children in neat packages, such as attention deficit disorder and attachment disorder.

These things do exist, but they should never be used as an excuse for violence. To my horror, Polreis’ church is also on her side. Does a difficult, violent child deserve no mercy?

DI BURBANO

Los Angeles

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David Polreis’ mother, Renee, claims David died of self-inflicted wounds, yet in the article there is no technical discussion with an expert about how anyone, let alone a 2 1/2-year-old, could manage to beat themselves to the point of death.

And if this is true, why did David’s mother stand passively by and not call 911 while her child viciously punched himself?

SARAH ARMSTRONG JONES

Los Angeles