Was Danny Responsible? *Child's Play Spoilers*

La_Guera said:
I understand identifying with and being protective of your favorite character. I did it all the time with Snape, and I do it all the time with Flack, but I can't help but suspect that character loyalty has clouded the central issue of responsibility. Saying that Danny is in some measure responsible for what happened on that street corner won't send Kevlar!Flack and the Super SWAT Squad crashing through his door with handcuffs and hot needle in hand. Nor does such a conclusion mean that Danny was intentionally negligent or acted with malicious intent. It just means that his actions contributed to Ruben's death. And they did.

If we're supposed to give Danny a free pass because OMG, it's Danny and he didn't mean for it to happen, then why isn't the same free pass being extended to Laughing Larry, who is being cheerfully held accountable for a thirty-year-old drowning at which he was not present and which he therefore could not have prevented? All he did was sell an admittedly cheap toy, but because Flack and Lindsay didn't like him, fandom is only too happy to attach more culpability to him than they are to woobie Danny, who could've done more before and after the shooting to possibly alter the tragic outcome. Methinks it's the Laura J. Dampcoot Law of Inverse Proportionality at work. The hotter the guy involved in a matter of dubious ethics or morality, the less responsibility and fewer consequences he must accept. Using this complicated principle, we can see that a cop with the hotness of Flack will never suffer any consequences, whereas Andy Sipowicz would be stripped to his skivvies, covered in ants, slathered in barbecue sauce, and torn apart by jackals.

Danny is partially responsible, period.
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The reason Laughing Larry goes down in my book has little to do with looks and more to do with he was directly responsible for a child's death. He made a toy, claimed it was a submarine and kids being stupid kids believed it and drowned.

The reason I don't believe Danny is responsible is because I don't think he could have left the scene and he did what he thought was best. Get Ruben out of immediate danger. Which is exactly what I would have done. He had two choices, send Ruben home or keep him there at the scene until help arrived and I firmly believe that no kid should be stuck in that chaos.

The only fault I find in his action is not checking in. Which is where I do start making excuses because he's my favorite charactor . :D He hadn't gotten much sleep, he didn't think there was any reason to. He clearly thought that Ruben was fine, and of course I've chosen not to read into it because if he had we wouldn't have gotten the scene where he first sees him.
 
The reason I don't believe Danny is responsible is because I don't think he could have left the scene and he did what he thought was best. Get Ruben out of immediate danger. Which is exactly what I would have done. He had two choices, send Ruben home or keep him there at the scene until help arrived and I firmly believe that no kid should be stuck in that chaos.
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See now, my reaction would be different. I think that in a situation like that, chaos or no, the better thing would have been for Danny to keep Ruben where he could see him and protect him if necessary.

Whatever about sending him home, I believe that Danny was totally negligent in failing to ensure that Ruben had indeed made it home safely. Even without a GSW the kid could have fallen off his bike or gotten hit by a car or abducted. Anything could have happened in that block and a half. If Danny had to stay on the scene, there was still no reason that he couldn't make a single call. Perhaps it's because he's not a regular parent/guardian that it just didn't occur to him that anything could have happened, but it was still irresponsible and negligent of him to just assume that things were okay.

(I also find it ridiculous that nobody informed Ruben's mother of his death until Danny showed up. I'm guessing that Danny insisted on being the one to tell her, but WTF was he thinking, waiting for the whole day to pass and letting her get even more worried)
 
That just seems to be a big plot hole that the writers forgot about. It just doesn't make sense for Ricki not to be informed of Ruben's death until Danny went to see her, or Ricki not to give Danny a single phone call to ask about his whereabouts with Ruben. Unless, the night-time stock footage of NY was just to mess with our heads and less time had passed than we thought. *meh*

Ruben might not have died if Danny had let Ruben stay with him, because he could have gotten medical help sooner.

I agree that Danny was negligent in ensuring Ruben's safety after he had sent the kid home. A phone call to Ricki would've cleared everything up... Stupid plot holes!

But I guess this episode was meant to stir up all the "What if?" questions, and it sure did its job of doing just that. ;)
 
I was talking to my friend today about this and she had talked to her dad who's a cop about it. He said had that same thing happened but the kid was her he would have done the same thing Danny did and stay at the scene despite the fact that he wasn't on duty and he was technically supposed to be watching her(And he had no clue anything was wrong w/ her). Just thought that was interesting coming from an actual cop.
 
^That is interesting--thank you for posting that, WhosLaughingNow. I have to say, I do understand the sense of obligation Danny felt for his job. Leaving the scene to him probably would have felt irresponsible and like he was a bad cop. He did ignore his responsibility to Ruben, or at least put it aside, in favor of his job, but when looked at from that angle it is possible to at least understand why Danny did what he did.
 
I agree that Danny was probably right to stay at the scene, at least until he could hand it over to another cop. But I also feel that he shouldn't have let Ruben out of his sight when there was danger around. As a police officer, Danny has a duty to the city, but as a person, he had a duty to Ruben and his mother. And it's not like he couldn't have done both. He could easily have kept Ruben with him until somebody else showed up to take over either the crime scene or Ruben.
 
"I think Danny blamed himself enough for many people. I do like Danny angst yes but that episode broke my heart. Where was anyone for him to lean on??
 
I chose NO...

while danny should have made sure ruben made it home, he still might have died. Ruben was in Danny's line of sight, there was no reason to indicate a gun would go off near by. And even if Danny knew ruben had been shot, he might have died, since it looked like he died as soon as he turned a corner. You can't keep kids on a leash, there will always be risks, that is part of life.
 
^Yeah, but Danny sent Ruben home; it's not like the kid ran away from him. I don't think anybody blames Danny for Ruben getting shot; Ruben did ride ahead even though Danny told him not to turn the corner. It's what happened afterwards that some have a problem with.

Ceindreadh said:
I agree that Danny was probably right to stay at the scene, at least until he could hand it over to another cop. But I also feel that he shouldn't have let Ruben out of his sight when there was danger around. As a police officer, Danny has a duty to the city, but as a person, he had a duty to Ruben and his mother. And it's not like he couldn't have done both. He could easily have kept Ruben with him until somebody else showed up to take over either the crime scene or Ruben.
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That pretty much sums up how I feel about it.
 
I think the biggest thing here is that we've all had way too much time to think about what Danny should or shouldn't have done. Danny had seconds to make a decision and we've had days to think about it. How many people might have made the same decision given only a split second to make it?

I would have sent Ruben home too but, unlike Danny, I would have called Rikki to make sure he had indeed gotten home. I don't see why he couldn't have taken a couple minutes to call after other officers had arrived on the scene.
 
I don't know--I've really enjoyed the depth and complexity of discussion here. And Danny's actions are very much up for debate, which has made the discussion fun and invigorating.

And 1CSIMfan, on a totally shallow note, your avatar is insanely hot. :devil: ;)

As for Danny, I think he's going to be kicking himself for a while, and I will be interested to see just where he thinks he made the fatal error.

I know one person who will want to do nothing but comfort Danny though... ;) and won't blame him for a thing. ;)
 
I know one person who will want to do nothing but comfort Danny though... ;) and won't blame him for a thing. ;)
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Of course Lindsay won't blame him for a thing! :p :devil:

Danny wasn't responsible for Ruben's death. He was responsible for seeing the boy didn't make it home, but he didn't pull the trigger that killed Ruben. As Rhonda said, Danny had seconds to make a decision. That's how it is in RL, with real cops. Their training and instincts kick in during the situation, but they've got days afterward to Mondsay-morning quarterback their own actions and wonder if they could have done things differently. If you consider the numerous differing opinions expressed on the board as a whole and apply them to an OI-shooting, that's a small taste of what Danny's going through. Let's just hope TPTB follow up with some type of IA investigation into whether Danny followed procedure or something. That would be awesome and would carry through on S1 happenings.
 
I know one person who will want to do nothing but comfort Danny though...;) and won't blame him for a thing. ;)
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Oh yes. We all know who that is. *coughFlackcough* :D I'm sure Danny will be turning to him for comfort or better yet, let's let him be the one to go to Danny. I doubt Flack will have to tell Mac he's crappy at things like that. :p

Of course Lindsay won't blame him for a thing! :p :devil:
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Of course not because we all know she never finds fault with him. :rolleyes:

As for Danny, I think he's going to be kicking himself for a while, and I will be interested to see just where he thinks he made the fatal error.
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Danny will totally be kicking himself for quite a while. Aside from Rikki, I doubt anybody else could be harder on Danny than himself.

And 1CSIMfan, on a totally shallow note, your avatar is insanely hot. ;) :devil:
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Thanks! That's the comfort scene I'm waiting for. :devil:

I don't know--I've really enjoyed the depth and complexity of discussion here. And Danny's actions are very much up for debate, which has made the discussion fun and invigorating.
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I've enjoyed it too but it can be exhausting. :)
 
PrettyEyes said:
Of course Lindsay won't blame him for a thing! :p :devil:
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Nope, she'll be too busy making it all about her. :rolleyes:

When I re-watched the episode a while ago (I need to watch it again and take notes), I noticed that he basically beat himself up for the same things we've been talking about in here when he was talking to Mac. I think he might have even mentioned not calling Rikki to make sure he got home.

So yeah, Danny's definitely on the same page as us about how his split-second decision was the wrong one. *pets the poor woobie*
 
Nope, she'll be too busy making it all about her. :rolleyes"
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She'll be like 'But I came to you and you brushed me off. You left me standing there with Mac. I didn't know what else to do. You shouldn't have walked away.' :rolleyes:

I think he might have even mentioned not calling Rikki to make sure he got home.
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I'll have to watch it again because I don't remember that either but then again, I got myself turned around in the morgue anyway with Lindsay popping in and then Danny popping out and all the camer angles. :p
 
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