May 2, 2007
Knox News - Chattanooga, TN
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) _ A 1-year-old boy died Tuesday after being left alone in a car for nearly seven hours as temperatures inside climbed to 142 degrees, Chattanooga police said.
Timothy Reid was found unresponsive by his father, Robert Reid, around 3:20 p.m. Tuesday. Emergency responders pronounced the infant dead at the scene. Reid, 43, faces charges of criminally negligent homicide and aggravated child abuse and neglect, Chattanooga Police Lt. Tim Carroll said in a statement. Police said Reid took his three other children, ages 6, 10 and 12, to school Tuesday morning and had intended to take Timothy to daycare before driving to work at a local business. Investigators said Reid failed to drop off Timothy and instead left him in a car seat located behind the driver's seat when he arrived at work around 8:30 a.m. The Chattanooga Fire Department performed a thermal imaging reading of the Reid's 2002 BMW M5 and found the temperature inside to be 142 degrees. The outside temperature Tuesday reached 89 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Copyright 2007, KnoxNews. All Rights Reserved.