A Florida father was arrested Friday and charged in the death of his toddler son, who was left in a pickup truck for eight hours, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
Troy Whitaker, 41, was charged with aggravated manslaughter, sheriff's spokesman Kavontae Smalls said.
Whitaker left his Palm Harbor house Friday morning with his 5-year-old daughter and 23-month-old son, Lawson, Smalls said.
He dropped his daughter off at school, but forgot to drop his son off at daycare, Smalls said. He ran errands around town, and saw his son in the backseat of the Chevrolet truck in the afternoon, when he was back home.
Whitaker, who is a firefighter with the nearby Hillsborough County Fire Department, performed CPR on his son before medical officials arrived, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told reporters.
The boy had an "extremely high body temperature" and was transported to Mease Countryside Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the sheriff said.
"It was obvious that he had been dead for a while," Gualtieri said
The sheriff said the boy was in the truck from about 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., when Whitaker returned from a trip to the supermarket
"It was evident that he didn't realize that the child was in the backseat until he arrived home from Publix," Gualtieri said. "He was taking the groceries out of the front passenger seat and immediately dropped the bags -- there are groceries all over the driveway -- and then went and took the child out of the car seat
The boy's car seat was behind the driver's seat, the sheriff said
"As you can imagine, he was extremely upset -- visibly upset," he said
The boy's mother was at the hospital Friday evening with other family members, he added.
Such a sad story. Parents need to always pay attention 100% where children are concerned. May the parents, especially the mother find comfort.
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