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CNN Live Today

Interview with Chief Joseph Thomas

Aired July 01, 2002 - 11:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I want to bring you up to date on another story. This one's out of Michigan, where a mother is facing murder charges this morning. Police say she left her two children in a sweltering car for three hours. She was getting her hair done at the time and both of those children died. Twenty-five-year-old Tarajee Maynor is jailed without bond today. She faces a possibility of life without parole if convicted.

Outside, the temperature was in the high 80s, but experts say it could have easily reached 140 degrees inside the car where those children were being kept.

Southfield, Michigan Police Chief Joseph Thomas is quoted as saying: "We treat animals better than that," and Chief Thomas is joining us from Southfield this morning to talk about this very disturbing case -- chief, thanks for joining us this morning.

CHIEF JOSEPH THOMAS, SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN POLICE: You're welcome, ma'am.

KAGAN: First, explain to us the circumstances of how these children were left inside the car. The mother went into this beauty parlor thinking she wasn't going to be that long, it sounds like.

THOMAS: This is our understanding after interviewing the mother, and when she returned to the vehicle, according to her own statement, she said they were dead and she rode around with those two dead children in the car with her for three hours, trying to make up a story for the police.

KAGAN: Wait. Wait. Wait. Chief, I just have to stop you for a second. She goes out to her car. She realizes her children are dead, and she drives around for two or three hours with her dead children in the car?

THOMAS: Yes, ma'am.

KAGAN: That is just outrageous.

THOMAS: We think so, ma'am. That's why she's in jail.

KAGAN: I get your point there. Now, as I understand it, when she finally did go for help or show up somewhere, she had a different story. She didn't talk about going to the beauty parlor. THOMAS: No, ma'am she did not.

KAGAN: What was her first story?

THOMAS: That she was kidnapped and she had been raped by a person she couldn't describe, was taken to a location that she didn't know where she was taken, and the officer taking the report began to try and put this together and began to interview potential witnesses and look for evidence at the scene and he called the Crime Scene Search Unit over and said, Something is wrong. This does not jibe. It's not matching.

Those two units decided to call the Investigative Unit who came in and also took a look at this set of circumstances and said something is wrong with this. We need to impound the car and take her down to the police station for a formal interview. There she confessed.

KAGAN: Now people across the country, of course, say dealing with warm temperatures and the word pretty much out that you should, obviously, not leave your children in the car with the windows rolled up. But is it possible, and not to give this woman any credit, but is it possible that just being in the 80s, it didn't seem like it would be that hot inside the car?

THOMAS: Ma'am, I guess it could be possible for a person that's not aware of what's transpiring. Medical personnel, law enforcement personnel warn us constantly about the elderly, young people, as well as animals.

It goes back to the old managerial or custodial theory. Either she knew or she should have known. My concern is not what could have possibly happened. My concern as a law enforcement agency is that we got two dead kids. We got a person that was directly responsible or the approximate cause for those kids to be deceased.

And, my focus is three fold: one, to determine if a crime has transpired; two, to locate the person that had the likelihood or likely committed that crime; three, to introduce that person to the Criminal Justice System.

I think sometimes law enforcement agencies sometime lose focus by concentrating on the whys instead of saying what, what happened?

KAGAN: Well and you know, Chief, as I sit here and think about it, take the heat out of it. Who would even leave a three-year-old and a ten-month-old unattended inside of a car for three hours? Just that alone should be criminal.

THOMAS: Yes, ma'am, it is and I think that we in the City of Southfield and Oakland County mirror some of the efforts throughout this country. We are trying to send a strong message to parents that a young child is in your custody, in your control. They need a safe and secure environment and you are responsible for that, and when you put those young people's lives in jeopardy, there are serious sanctions for that type of activity and we as law enforcement personnel are here to act decisively and act swiftly and with confidence that we're going to put you in jail.

KAGAN: It is the hugest responsibility, absolutely. Anything else we know about this woman? Does she have a past? Does she have a past criminal record or was there any other record of problems with these kids of how she had treated them?

THOMAS: No ma'am. We have not discovered that, but again, I appreciate you inquiring as to her past history, but again I think we should not lose focus. I'm not really concerned at this point in time. Maybe from a crime prevention standpoint I am concerned. That way, we can prevent this from happening again, so we will look into that, but the main focus right now...

KAGAN: Does she have other -- does she have other children that you know of?

THOMAS: It's my understanding, ma'am, that she said she would have been raped and she had been kidnapped and a part of our procedure is to take her to a medical facility to get an examination done. While performing the examination, medical personnel found out that she is with child again.

KAGAN: Pregnant right now?

THOMAS: Yes, ma'am.

KAGAN: So what's going to -- so she's just going to stay in custody, but I guess she would have, if she stays in custody, she'll have the child in jail?

THOMAS: I can't answer that question, ma'am, but if I had anything to do with it, I'm going to pursue it through the Department of Social Services, my full intention that if -- when the child is born, to remove it from the mother. She's already given us indications that she's not capable of being in the custody and control of small children. I don't think the third one is going to be a difference.

KAGAN: Absolutely incredible, a woman where it appears having her hair done more important than the safety and the life of her own two baby children.

THOMAS: Yes.

KAGAN: Chief, such a difficult story, but thank you for bringing us the details today. We appreciate it.

THOMAS: You're welcome.

KAGAN: And that is Chief Joseph Thomas from Southfield, Michigan, bringing us the story of a woman who went to have her hair done, apparently, and left her two children to die inside of a very hot car, a very, very sad story out of Michigan.

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