Kenneth Robinson has been arrested after leaving his toddler alone in a hot car while he went to work. Thankfully the boy was found in time and will make a full recovery, but Robinson faces charges of endangerment and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment.
Robinson reportedly forgot that his son was in the back of the vehicle when he exited to go to work. He thought he had already dropped the boy off at daycare and started his workday. A colleague happened to notice the toddler in the back of the car and immediately called 911.
"I need an ambulance at Patton-Chestnut and Binder ASAP," he was heard telling a dispatcher. "A child was left in the car. Is he breathing? Is he breathing? Yes, he's breathing," the colleague said.
When rescuers arrived on the scene, the temperature inside the car was over 100 degrees. Thankfully the boy is expected to make a full recovery after being taken to a local hospital and kept overnight for observation. His father, however, now faces charges of child endangerment.
Robinson was arrested and pleaded not guilty at arraignment. He will next appear in court on Tuesday for a preliminary hearing. As the summer heat intensifies across the nation, authorities have begun to urge parents to be extra cautious about leaving young ones alone in the car, where temperatures can drastically increase and kill little bodies.
Forgotten Baby Syndrome is a term frequently used to describe situations in which a child is accidentally left alone in a vehicle. Most of these cases occur in the United States, with very few fatalities reported abroad.
"Some people think: 'I can see forgetting a child for two minutes but not eight hours,'" explained Janette Fennell, president of kidsandcars.org. "But what they don't understand is that in his or her mind the parent has dropped off the baby at nursery and thinks the baby is well taken care of."
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