A Tennessee man faces charges after police say he left his baby in a vehicle all day while he ran at a structure site.
According to ABC 9, Timothy Paul Blackdeer faces charges of reckless murder and molestation or neglect of nuisance children. The incident occurred Monday at a structure at Collegedale Academy High School in Chatanooga, where Blackdeer said he worked.
Blackdeer told investigators he intended to leave his daughter and two other children with a nanny that morning, but forgot to drop off his youngest son.
“When he arrived at work, he had to park on the most sensitive part of the hill because there were classes at the place where he worked,” Chatanooga police said in a report.
“He said the site of the structure was about a 10-minute walk away. He said he didn’t walk to the car from the task location during his breaks because the length of the break was enough to walk to the vehicle.
When police spoke with the young men’s mother, she said before going to work, she “prepared the 3 young men to spend with the babysitter first thing in the morning,” letting Blackdeer take them to the babysitter.
Around 6:18 a. m. , the nanny contacted the children’s mother and told her that they had only left two children. The mother told police that the babysitter’s message alarmed her because she assumed Blackdeer had left the baby with her older children, ages 12 and 15, at home.
Meanwhile, around 3 p. m. , Blackdeer learned the baby was still inside his vehicle and began driving erratically, according to the police report, prompting an officer to pull over.
Blackdeer was pulled from his vehicle and told police his son needed medical attention, then “spontaneously stated that the child had been in the car all day while at work. “
The baby was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Police said her internal body temperature was 105. 8.
According to Jan Null of the CCM Department of Meteorology and Climate Sciences at San Jose State University, the boy’s death marks the 19th pediatric vehicular heat stroke in the United States. This year.
The story unfolds. Check for updates.
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