Savannah Hardin, 9, Dies After Being Forced to Run for 3 Hours

Savannah Hardin, a 9-year-old girl, died after allegedly being force to run for three hours. She was forced by her grandmother and stepmother to run as a pushiment for lying about eating a candy bar. "According to the Birmingham News, her stepmother, Jessica Mae Hardin, called 911 at 6:45 p.m. and reported that Savannah was having a seizure and was unresponsive." Savannah was taken to the Children's Hopital in Birmingham, Alabama, where she was taken off of life support. The third grader's death has been ruled a homicide by a state pathologist. Reports indicate that Savannah was extremely dehydrated and very low sodium levels. "According to AP reports, Savannah had a very common bladder condition and could not handle the caffeine in a chocolate bar. It is not believed, however, that the bladder condition contributed to her death." Savannah's stepmother and grandmother are both being charged with murder. If capital murder charges are pursued, they may face the death penalty.

Reading this article, I felt very grateful for being blessed with a loving family. I know that many people have family problems, but after reading this article, I feel bad that a little girl had to experience this kind of abuse. Being a runner myself, I can understand the feeling of being dehydrated, but I could never imagine being so dehydrated that you have to be hopitalized as a result. I can understand that a parent can be mad about a child eating a candy bar, but punishing them to the extent of making a child do some kind of excerise that most people don't do, is a little excessive. Though running is a very common excerise, and though many people don't usually die from running, running for three hours is a little over the top even for very athletic people. Running for cross country, my longest running is a little over an hour long. Now I know that if I worked up to a run that last three hours I would probably be fine. The key word is "worked up", not many people can just go out a run for three hours without having some kind of training for that kind of excerise. Especially for a 9-year-old, doing this kind of extreme excerise probably contributed some to her death.

Orloff, Brian. Savannah Hardin, 9, Dies After Being Forced to Run for 3 Hours. 24 February 2012. 26 February 2012 http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20573491,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+people%2Fheadlines+%28PEOPLE.com%3A+Top+Headlines%29&utm_content=Google+Reader.