While an 18-month-old boy was left helpless in a hot truck on June 6, his father got a haircut and then went drinking at a bar in Ormond-by-the-Sea, according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.
The boy later died.
His father, Scott Allen Gardner, 33, was arrested on June 19 and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect causing great bodily harm, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post. Gardner was being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail.
Gardner left his son, Sebastian, “helpless in a hot truck for more than three hours on the afternoon” of June 6, the Sheriff’s Office stated. While his son was in the hot truck, Gardner got a haircut and then went drinking at Hanky Panky’s lounge.
Medical personnel estimated the boy’s body temperature reached 111 degrees, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Gardner gave investigators “multiple false accounts” of what happened, the Sheriff’s Office stated.
Gardner was arrested by the Volusia Sheriff’s Office and Ormond Beach police at his mother’s residence in Ormond Beach.
The Sheriff’s Office posted a video of Gardner being arrested. As he is led to a patrol vehicle in handcuffs, a woman says “I love you.”
Gardner replied “love you guys.”
Someone, apparently a law enforcement officer, says in the video “say your goodbyes because you’re not going to come back here again.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: 18-month-old son dies in hot truck while Ormond Beach father gets haircut, goes drinking
Reporting by Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
