Father of Infant Left in Hot Car Not Charged, Viral Backlash Ensues
In a couple of earlier entries your Charleston child injury lawyers have discussed the serious dangers of leaving children alone in the car during the hot summer months. The earliest post covered the sad circumstance when parents simply forget they have the kids in the car, as well as organizations trying to gain awareness to this very real possibility. And at the end of July, there was an entry posted concerning the legal ramifications and criminal charges for those parents, guardians, and caretakers who intentionally leave their kids in the car while they run errands, or do some other activity. Most recently, your experienced attorneys at Howell and Christmas, LLC came across a story that falls somewhere in between the previous two entries.
According to the Post and Courier, prosecutors in Columbia determined there was not enough evidence to charge the father of 9-month-old baby boy who died after being left in a hot car for four hours outside an apartment complex on Father's Day. According to the report, the National Weather Service said the high temperature that day was 98 degrees.
As it was mentioned in the first post covering kids and hot cars, last year there were 49 instances of children dying from being left in a car, and after a bit of research, there have been 22 cases this year. While many parents or guardians may read or hear about these instances and think they are clear cut cases of gross negligence, the fact is that these unfortunate, serious accidents can happen to even the best parents. Think for a moment how often you have forgotten your cell phone, wallet, or other personal item in the car, not to say that a child can be compared to these "things," but the point is that the modern parent has so much on their mind that it becomes easy to be forgetful.
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