A not-so-great moment for Bat-Family. A joyride Damian took in the Batmobile ended in tragedy, but he may not be the only culpable person involved.
Neither Batman nor any of his allies were prepared when Bruce's son came into his life. Raised primarily by Talia al Ghul, the boy had been brought up to one day take over the role of the Dark Knight. But his training from the League of Assassins left him with a skewed perspective of justice. It became clear during his first appearance how violent Damian Wayne was when he beheaded a low-level criminal known as the Spook to prove he was capable of fighting crime. His proclivity to violence left many heroes in doubt if he was ready to take on the Robin role.
But there's another incident that never got as much attention as Damian's gruesome execution. In Battle for the Cowl #1 by Tony S. Daniel, Gotham is in a state of panic now that criminals have gotten wind that Batman has disappeared. With Bruce gone after the events of Final Crisis, the Bat-Family is trying to keep control of the city. As the battle for Batman's cowl rages on, Damian steals the Batmobile to go out for a spin, taking an older girl along for the ride. But Oracle manages to seize control of the vehicle, ejecting Damian's friend out of the car before trying to get Damian off of the streets. But Damian is sideswiped by Killer Croc, who knocks the Batmobile off into a swamp. The hulking villain thanks Damian for bringing him something to eat, tossing the boy a shoe that belonged to his date.
Nightwing does save Damian, but aside from a minor comment, nothing more is said about the incident. Nightwing and Robin are close, but this moment needed a much stronger rebuke than Dick was willing to give. When Damian killed the Spook, Bruce vehemently tore into Damian over his actions, and let him know that sort of behavior won't fly in the Bat-Family. And sure, this happened at a particularly bad moment with Gotham on fire.
But this in deadly incident was a crucial moment for the up-and-coming Robin and unfortunately the Bat-Family just looks all the worse for ignoring it.
