Rooting for the lawyer

I normally wouldn’t feel good about the state being sued for millions of dollars by a lawyer who advertises seven-figure verdicts (“State accused of neglect in abuse of three children in Spokane Valley,” March 6), but I hope he wins this on behalf of the three children who are victims of an abuser and Child Protective Services’ extreme irresponsibility in not dealing with the situation if the allegations are true.

I would think that if I as a citizen suspected that a child was being physically harmed and reported it immediately to CPS, that the agency would treat as it an emergency, especially since the alleged abuser had a history of violence. How could CPS take 15 days to investigate, let the suspect refuse to let the children be examined and close the investigation? Police are available to back up caseworkers. Domestic violence to an adult is responded to immediately by law enforcement, which is how the abuse to the children was finally observed after seven more months of torture.

Bureaucrats obviously didn’t learn anything from the millions paid in the tragic case of the DeLeon children in 2008. There should be jail time for negligent CPS employees involved. Certainly prosecutor Larry Haskell needs to try the alleged abuser.

R. Paul Unger

Spokane