The father of a 2-year-old who was pronounced dead after being found unresponsive inside a hot vehicle in Arizona has been arrested in connection to her death.
According to the Marana Police Department, the child’s father, 37-year-old Christopher Scholtes, was arrested and booked into the Pima County Adult Detention on the morning of Friday, July 12.
He is now facing charges of second-degree murder and child abuse for what police describe as a “tragic event.”
Officers went to the family home shortly after 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 9, to respond to a report of an unresponsive child who had been left in a vehicle, police said.
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According to AZFamily, that day, an Excessive Heat Warning was in effect in the area, with temperatures exceeding 110 degrees.
During an initial investigation, Scholtes told officers that he left his vehicle on and the air running while parked in the driveway to avoid waking his daughter, who was still asleep in her car seat.
Police say that after he went inside, the toddler’s mother arrived home shortly after and found their daughter unresponsive inside the vehicle, “which was no longer running, and the air conditioning was off.”
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The mother performed CPR on her daughter until emergency personnel arrived and performed additional life-saving measures. The toddler was then transported to Banner University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
After being granted a search warrant and obtaining video surveillance from nearby residences, detectives learned that the toddler had been in the vehicle for approximately three hours, leading to Scholtes’ arrest, police said.
According to the National Safety Council, more than 960 children have died from vehicular heatstroke since 1998.
“This incident is a stark reminder of the dangers of leaving children unattended in vehicles. The temperature inside a vehicle can rise rapidly, even on relatively mild days, leading to potentially fatal outcomes within minutes,” the Marana Police Department said in a statement.
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We urge all parents and caregivers to remain vigilant and take every precaution to ensure the safety of their children,” the statement continued. “The Marana Police Department and our entire community feel this heartbreaking loss, and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this tragic incident.”
Learn more about how you can avoid hot car deaths here.
