The Father put her in the fridge before he called 911
I’m sure that many of you, like myself, have a difficult time trying to understand how anyone can leave a child in a car, but yet it keeps happening. In fact, we hear about it every single day. In the warmer weather, temperatures can rise to extreme conditions in which a young child can overheat.
Parents either “forget” their child in the car or the child somehow finds their own way inside the car and lock themselves in, and then you even get cases where Parents knowingly leave their child behind while they go about their errands!
Now, a Dallas area man has been arrested and charged with manslaughter in the death of his 6-month-old daughter after she died when he forgot her in his vehicle for over 4 hours. Michael Thedford has now been charged with manslaughter in the death of his 6-month-old daughter, Fern.
Thedford, who’s a married father of 3, had dropped his older two children off at a daycare after his wife went to work, and then he returned home. Fern had been sick so she didn’t go to daycare that day, however Thedford had forgotten she was in the car.
After the Father returned home from dropping his 3-year-old and 5-year-old off at daycare, Thedford went inside and took a nap.
According to WFAA News, the man states that when he woke four hours later he discovered his baby in the car. He said that she was unresponsive, stiff and “hot as a brick.”
Temperatures reached 91 degrees by noon on that day.
The affidavit states that he then put his infant daughter in the refrigerator with the door open for an “undetermined amount of time” before eventually calling his wife who was at work and then calling 911. When the paramedics arrived, the baby girl was dead in the kitchen, and her father was arrested that day for manslaughter.
Thedford’s father, Stan Thedford, says that his son is a doting and loving father but he doesn’t know how he could have forgotten his baby daughter in the car.
“Every year at this time it happens to people from all walks of life,” he said of the tragedy. “It’s something we should all be more aware of.”
“We appreciate everyone’s thoughts and concerns. We just need time for our grieving, and to help family get through it.”
The CPS is currently investigating.
Although this was an awful tragic accident, I still can’t understand how anyone can forget a child in a hot car, although we know it still happens because we keep seeing it.
The guilt that this Father will have to live with for the rest of his life is worse than any punishment the courts can give him, I’m sure.
Maybe making more car seats like the one’s which alerts you when a child is still in the car is the answer.
What do you think about leaving a child in a car? For example, do you think it’s okay to leave them just for a few minutes while you run in to the store?