Mother's Misjudgment at Zoo's Wild Dog Exhibit Leads to Disaster | Maddox Derkosh Case Analysis

well this is Dr Grande today's question is can I analyze the case of Maddox derkash just a reminder I'm not diagnosing by this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon I'll put the link to patreon in the description for this video first I'll look at the background of this case move to the timeline of the incident and offer my analysis Maddox Lamar durkash was born on January 21 2010 in Allegheny County Pennsylvania he lived with his father Jason and his mother Elizabeth in Pittsburgh Maddox had some vision problems and was described as a Boy Who Loved trucks now moving to the timeline of the incident on November 4 2012 33 year old Elizabeth durkash took her two-year-old son Maddox to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium arriving at about 9 45 AM this medium-sized Zoo opened in 1898 it sits along the Allegheny River Elizabeth and Maddox attended a conservation education class for children called Zoo School after this the mother and son walked through the zoo and looked at various animal exhibits at about 11 45 AM they entered the painted Dog Bush Camp exhibit which housed 11 African wild dogs this 1.5 acre exhibit was designed to look like an actual Bush Camp research site in Zimbabwe it had a covered observation deck that was directly above the ground where the African wild dogs would run there was a four foot high railing along the perimeter of the structure above the railing there was see-through wire mesh except in the center viewing area where there was nothing above the railing directly below this Center railing there was a Structure with netting on it which was designed to catch items that visitors May throw or drop over the railing for example beverages hats cameras and sunglasses Zoo Personnel were probably especially concerned about cell phones there's no telling what those wild dogs would do if they got their paws on a cell phone the net was not designed to prevent human beings from falling into the dog habitat Elizabeth approached this Center viewing area again the one without any wire mesh above the railing and lifted Maddox up onto the railing her intent was to allow him to have a better view of the wild dogs this may have been partially motivated because Maddox had poor vision as Elizabeth was lifting and holding Maddox he lurched forward and slipped from her grasp he fell into the netting below bounced off The netting and fell into the African wild dog habitat a few feet below the netting the total fall was about 14 feet Maddox was alert and conscious after hitting the ground but unfortunately the African wild dogs immediately attacked him Elizabeth tried to enter the exhibit by climbing over the railing but another Zoo visitor physically restrained her Maddox suffered horrible injuries here are a few examples the numbers I'll be using are low end estimates he sustained 46 wounds to his head and neck 66 abrasions and contusions 17 lacerations to his torso and 58 wounds on his upper and lower extremities he was essentially ripped apart by the wild dogs and some of his internal organs were destroyed Maddox had no chance of survival Sue Personnel responded right away but they determined that there was no point attempting a rescue as they would share the same fate it was clear that Maddox was already dead Zoo employees managed to call off seven of the dogs and they went back into the building three more were eventually motivated to move away using dummy darts one dog refused to move away from the body of Maddox a Pittsburgh police officer shot and killed this dog the body of the boy was retrieved from the habitat Maddox was pronounced dead at 1201 pm the Allegheny County district attorney said that the boy's death was a tragic accident no charges were filed against Elizabeth in 2013 Elizabeth and her husband Jason filed a lawsuit against the zoo for wrongful death and negligence they were looking for a minimum of three hundred thousand dollars in 2014 the case settled out of court for an undisclosed amount the African wild dog exhibit was permanently closed and later replaced by a cheetah exhibit the surviving ten dogs were sent to other facilities now moving to my analysis one critical question that comes up in this case is what responsibility if any that Elizabeth bear and the death of her son Maddox the state did not charge her criminally but many people believed that she was to blame for example the zoo said that the death of Maddox was quote caused solely by the carelessness negligence and or recklessness of Elizabeth durkash this brings me to the question was Elizabeth to blame and if so to what degree let's take a look at the evidence both for and against the idea that Elizabeth was responsible for the death of her son starting with the inculpatory factors any reasonable person should have known that it was Reckless to lift a child on top of a railing and a zoo exhibit featuring dangerous animals there were numerous warning signs at this exhibit the top of the railing was slanted 45 degrees toward the viewing platform in order to keep people from sitting or standing on the railing four foot railings are pretty high compared to the height of other railings used to protect people from death for example many cruise ship railings are between 3.25 and 3.75 feet tall people would have to work pretty hard to get themselves or someone else over a four foot railing it's not something that can happen by accident the observation deck at the painted Dog Bush Camp exhibit complied with the safety standards of the association of zoos and Aquariums the U.S department of Agriculture inspected the Wild dog exhibit 35 times since it opened in 2006 there was not even one violation documented until the death of Maddox the zoo never had a visitor death in its over 110 year history moving to the exculpatory factors the center portion of the observation deck did not have any wire mesh above it the net below this railing was insufficient to stop a human being from traveling all the way down to the habitat a zoo employee claimed that he observed parents placing their children above or on the railing of the exhibit at least 10 times a day after allegedly telling his supervisor about this he was told this is not your concern go back to work it's worth noting that the zoo denied that anyone complained about parents lifting children up over the railing on a previous occasion the African wild dogs escaped to another part of the exhibit although nobody was hurt during that incident some people argued that African wild dogs are simply too dangerous to be housed in anything but a fully enclosed habitat these wild dogs are considered to be among the most ferocious Predators on the African plains the dogs typically weigh between 37 and 80 pounds but can kill animals that are much heavier for example zebra wildebeest and Antelope the wild dogs are particularly effective when they hunt about 80 percent of their hunts result in a kill as opposed to 30 percent for lions one metric used to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of an animal's bite is the bite force quotient this metric is calculated by dividing the animal's bite force in Newtons by its body mass in kilograms African wild dogs have a bite force quotient of 142. by comparison a domestic dog has a bite force quotient of 80. a coyote 88 a red fox 92 and a dingo has a bite force quotient of 125. like from the notorious 1980 Chamberlain case in Australia which also involved a child fatality one of the few carnivores that have a higher bite force quotient than a wild dog is also found in Australia the Tasmanian Devil comes in at 181. when considering all the evidence do I think that Elizabeth was responsible for the death of her son Maddox yes in my opinion she was she lifted him over a safety barrier and he fell into an area that she knew or should have known was extremely dangerous would she have done the same thing if she was on board a cruise ship interestingly there was a case that occurred on a cruise ship that was similar to this I made a video about the case in 2021 a family took a cruise aboard oil Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas in July of 2019 included in the family were two members that are relevant to this story A Man Named Sam and his 18-month-old granddaughter Chloe when the ship was docked in Puerto Rico Sam lifted Chloe over a wooden rail in front of an open window after he held her for about 34 seconds she slipped from his arms and fell 150 feet to the pier the fall was fatal Sam eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor negligent homicide Chloe's family filed a lawsuit against Royal Caribbean but a judge dismissed the case saying that a reasonable person through ordinary use of his senses would have known of the dangers the judge further stated that the risk creating danger was when Sam lifted Chloe to an open window and that Sam was responsible for Chloe's death When comparing the circumstances of this cruise ship case with the zoo case I think it is reasonable to believe that Elizabeth was fortunate to have avoided prosecution this brings me to the question should the state of Pennsylvania have prosecuted Elizabeth even though I believe Elizabeth was responsible for the death of Maddox I think the district attorney made the right decision in not prosecuting Elizabeth attempted to rescue her son if she had not been restrained she would have entered the habitat and the dogs almost certainly would have killed her too she was willing to risk her life to save her son it's clear that she did not intend for him to die it's also possible that Elizabeth could have argued she did not know the risks for example she didn't realize that if Maddox fell he would be right there with the wild dogs maybe the netting gave her a false sense of security which would not have been a factor on a cruise ship Elizabeth may not have understood that African wild dogs were extremely dangerous perhaps having dog in the name made them appear safe I think Elizabeth would have made a very sympathetic defendant considering the horrible nature of her son's death perhaps she was punished Enough by having to watch her son die particularly in such a gruesome manner now moving to my final thoughts usually when people think of dangerous characteristics that a parent could have something like impulsivity recklessness or excessive self-confidence would come to mind a lesser known danger is a lack of practical intelligence sometimes referred to as common sense many human beings possess innate cognitive mechanisms which allow them to make efficient and quick judgments about everyday situations unfortunately some people do not appear to have sufficient levels of common sense to remain safe in society businesses that deal with the public use various methods in an effort to compensate for a lack of common sense in visitors they may post various warning signs advising people to take certain actions or to avoid certain actions for example warning signs advising people not to lift their children over a railing that separates visitors from a habitat full of ferocious wild dogs a component of Common Sense is looking at the warning signs and regarding them as legitimate unfortunately some people believe that the rules don't apply to them they soon find out that certain rules like gravity apply to everyone those are my thoughts in the case of Maddox durkash please put any opinions and thoughts in the comment section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always I hope you found my analysis of this topic to be informative thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

Views: 660,258

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Id: oyVLtjWU82c

Length: 13min 24sec (804 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 05 2023