Man Whose Young Son Died in Hot Car Is Charged

Kyle Seitz faces a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to year in prison
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 12, 2014 1:33 AM CST
Man Whose Young Son Died in Hot Car is Charged
Justin Ross Harris, right, another father of a toddler who died after police say he was left in a hot car for about seven hours, arrives for his bond hearing on July 3, 2014, in Marietta, Ga.   (AP Photo/David Goldman)

The Connecticut father of a 15-month-old boy who died after being left in a hot car in July has been charged with negligent homicide, reports the AP. Kyle Seitz, 36, turned himself in yesterday after learning there was a warrant for his arrest, police say. He was released on a promise to appear in court today to face a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to a year in prison. Seitz was supposed to take his son, Benjamin Seitz, to day care on July 7 but instead went to work with Benjamin still inside the car, police say.

Benjamin was in the car for more than seven hours as temperatures climbed into the upper 80s, they say. Seitz found Benjamin in the car when he went to day care after work to pick him up; he then took him to a hospital. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide. Seitz's wife, Lindsey Rogers-Seitz, has set up a website, thegiftofben.com, and has become an advocate for technology that could help prevent people from accidentally leaving children in cars. "We're just like everybody else, and if it can happen to us, it can happen to anybody," she says. (Meanwhile, father Justin Ross Harris, who left his toddler in a hot car for seven hours, could face the death penalty.)

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