November 1, 2002
Morning News Online (Florence, SC)
By BOBBY TEDDER
DARLINGTON -- A 21-year-old Hartsville woman was taken into custody after one of her two small children started a fire in the car she had left them unattended in Friday morning.
The incident occurred at around 11:30 a.m. near the Public Square in Darlington, Darlington Police Lt. Danny Watson said. Watson said Sena Larrantte Easterling told police that she left her 4-year-old and 1-year-old sons in her Buick sedan when she saw a friend on the Public Square. Easterling parked her car in a parking space on Cashua Street near the Wilson Medical office building and walked up to the corner to talk to her friend. The suspect said she could see her vehicle from where she was and that she saw an unknown man run to her vehicle and take her children out, Watson said. Police say Easterling's account of what happened contradicts accounts by witnesses, including the 52-year-old Darlington man who saved her children's lives. Tommie McCall told officers that as he was leaving the Wilson Group building, he heard a child screaming and saw the suspect's car filled with smoke. "We believe that the oldest child set fire to a diaper bag with matches behind the driver's seat in the floorboard compartment," Watson said. "The bag was destroyed and the driver's seat and floor compartment were damaged, but fortunately the fire had not gotten going really good by the time Mr. McCall came up." As McCall approached the vehicle, he saw the two boys inside and took them to safety - the oldest boy first and then removing the entire baby seat with the baby still seated in it. The blaze was later extinguished by a Darlington firefighter who responded to the scene. "The doors were left unlocked, thus allowing him (McCall) easy entrance into the car and that, in all likelihood, is what saved these children's lives - the doors being unlocked." McCall told police that he did not see any adults around the vehicle at the time and that their mother did not arrive back until several minutes after he rescued the children. Another witness stated that he was in an insurance office across the street when he saw McCall taking the children out of the vehicle. Easterling was arrested at the scene. Both children were taken into emergency protective custody and released to DSS to be placed in foster care. "The only way of looking at it is that this guy happened to be in the right place at just the right time to be able to make a difference," Watson said. "It just comes down to the fact that no one should leave a 4-year-old in charge of a 1-year-old to begin with, much less leaving them in an unlocked car on the street. There's no telling what could happen," Watson said. Watson, along with Darlington Police Sgt. Mark Face and Chief Jay Cox, attended Tuesday's training session about the Amber Alert program in Myrtle Beach. South Carolina is scheduled to initiate its statewide version of the program - named for a young girl murdered in Arlington, Texas, in 1996 - and designed to deal with child abductions Nov. 14. Watson said Friday's turn of events could have had an entirely different set of circumstances. "It could have been a situation where someone came along and snatched those children up, especially with the doors unlocked," Watson said. "No parent should leave their young unattended - that's just inexcusable." At press time Friday, Easterling remained in custody at the Darlington County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing.