Man Sentenced for Failing to Shut Off Fatal Air Bag

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, is believed to be the first person sentenced for failing to switch off an air bag, according to the American Automobile Assn.

“Anything I do won’t matter,” Municipal Court Judge Kenneth Spanagel told Childs, who hung his head and grimaced during his sentencing. “Your personal guilt you’re going to carry.”

Since 1990, air bags have caused the deaths of 121 people, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA estimates air bags have also saved 3,600 lives.

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.

No law required Childs to disengage the air bag, which deployed after Childs’ truck crashed into another truck at an intersection. The boy was strapped into a rear-facing car seat and suffered head injuries.

But prosecutors charged him because his 1997 pickup truck and the boy’s car seat had stickers warning that the device should be switched off in such circumstances.

“I believe we counted over a dozen warnings that should have triggered a different response from the driver,” said David Toetz, assistant city prosecutor.

A rear-facing infant seat strapped into the front seat puts a baby’s head dangerously close to the deploying air bag.

David Van Sickle, a spokesman for the AAA, said that as far as he could determine it is the first time anyone has been charged for failing to turn off an air bag since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration allowed cutoff switches in pickup trucks, sports cars and other vehicles with no back seat in 1995. There are now 3.2 million vehicles on the road with air bag cutoff switches.

“This is a heartbreaking tragedy,” Van Sickle said. “We strongly recommend that infants be placed on the rear seat where possible and, when it’s not, the switch be used.”

Prosecutors decided not to press more serious charges because Jacob was Childs’ only son.

Childs could have been sentenced to seven months in jail and fined $1,250.

Instead, Spanagel fined him $500, suspended his license for three years except for work and other essential trips, and sentenced him to 180 days in jail with 178 days suspended--as long as Childs helps produce public service announcements about air bag safety.