1-year-old Tenn. boy dies after being left in hot car

[Willowdared]

Father charged with negligent homicide

By Bill Poovey
ASSOCIATED PRESS
10:46 a.m. May 2, 2007
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – A 1-year-old boy died after being left alone in a car for hours as temperatures soared into the 80s, and his father was charged with negligent homicide, police said.
Timothy Reid was found unresponsive by his father, Robert Reid, Tuesday afternoon, nearly seven hours after Reid had parked the car and went to work. Emergency workers pronounced the toddler dead at the scene and said the temperature inside the car was 142 degrees.

Reid, 43, was charged with criminally negligent homicide and aggravated child abuse and neglect, Lt. Tim Carroll said Wednesday.

“The punishment is done regardless of what happens in court,” Carroll said. “He is torn up. He reacted the way a parent should react who has lost a child.”

Police said Reid took his three other children, ages 6, 10 and 12, to school Tuesday morning and had intended to take Timothy to day care before driving to work.

Investigators said Reid instead went to work and left the boy in the car seat. The boy was discovered when Reid went to his car to go pick up the children that afternoon.

“You can forget to pick up a gallon of milk, but you don't forget you left a 15-month-old in your car,” Carroll said.

The outside temperature Tuesday reached 89 degrees, just one degree shy of a record for the date, according to the National Weather Service.

Reid was released on a $15,000 bond pending a May 23 court hearing; records show he did not yet have a lawyer. A woman who answered the phone at Unishippers, the business owned by the boy's parents, said no one was making any comment Wednesday.

[rob84]

Some people just shouldnt breed. Rest in peace little dude.

[iso607]

I heard a story like this a few years ago. Same situation, the dad didn't normally take the kids to school and daycare in the morning but did for some reason. he was running late and after dropping the older kids at school the baby fell asleep and stated he forgot the child was in the back seat. He found the child dead when he went back to the car for lunch.

I didn't understand it then and I don't understand know how someone can forget thier child in a car. The negligent homocide charge didn't hold up. I feel sorry for the dad and understand that he must be going through a lot of pain but in my opinion "I forgot" doesn't make up for what that baby must have gone through.

A good punishment to me would be to lock him in a car and "forget" about him. Eye for eye.

[Morning Coffee]

In thinking how i exit my vehicle , facing it and locking the doors , how do you not see inside your vehicle ? Its not a big huge bus or rv he got out , i just dont get it .

I too have seen many of these , still dont understand it .

RIP Little One .......

[BEB]

You make an interesting point there, Morning Coffee. On the rare occasions I bother locking a door I hit the lock button with the door held ajar, but anymore many (most?) people lock the car with their remote.

Volvo recently introduced a heartbeat detector with alert via remote for this purpose. Beeps or something if you hit the lock button and it detects someone in the car. Lets you know if you forgot a kid or if an attacker is waiting for you - depends who they're marketing it to. Seems like a gimmick to me, but then I'm not in their market.

RIP

[k-9max]

RIP little man

[TXCharlie]

That's so sad. We hear about 2 or 3 of those almost every year around Dallas - In 115 degree summer heat like we have, it doesn't take long, especially in the full sun of a searing hot mall parking lot. You would think that people would hear about the other tragedies and remember, but it keeps happening over and over.

RIP