Baby Dies in Car Seat: Father Charged After Passing Out Drunk in Home
Baby Nathan Hubert, 2, died after being left in his car seat on a sweltering day this weekend. His father, Wayne, was charged after he passed out drunk in his O'fallon, Ill. home.
The baby was found by his mother after she returned home from work around 5 p.m. He had been inside the car for three hours by this point and died from heat exhaustion; the coroner found that Nathan's body temperature was an astonishing 104.6 degrees.
Wayne is charged with involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum prison term of 14 years. He was released from the St. Clair County Jail after posting 10 percent of a $250,000 bond. Wayne allegedly put the child in his car seat, planning to take a trip, and went back inside to get his 4-year-old daughter.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Instead, Wayne began drinking and passed out, leaving Nathan helpless in the car seat and his sister on her own inside the home.
So far this summer, 13 children have died from overheating in vehicles. Parents are cautioned to always check the backseat of their vehicles before locking the doors and walking away. A young child can easily overheat inside, even if the outside temperature is mild.
Kyrese Anderson, 3, also died after being left in a car for three hours while his parents attended a funeral in Florida. Kyrese's parents took two vehicles to drop the children off with a babysitter; his older siblings were safely delivered to the babysitter, but Kyrese was forgotten and left in the vehicle.
"They get back from the funeral several hours later, and they ask where the 3-year-old was and the babysitter said, 'I thought he was with you?'" Dave Bristow of the Manatee County Sheriff's Office told WTSP.com.
That's when they realized that the baby was still in the car; he was unconscious and pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Parents are encouraged to visit www.KidsandCars.org for ideas as to how to prevent such a tragedy from happening.
