A Hempstead man has been arrested for leaving his infant son in his car parked in front of his home Tuesday afternoon, causing the baby’s death, Nassau County police said.
Devon Fenner was charged with criminally negligent homicide of the 7-month-old boy, Dominick, who was left alone in a hot vehicle for a half hour, police said.
“Unfortunately cracking a window on a 90-degree day doesn’t do very much,” Dep. Ins. Kenneth Lack, chief spokesman for the police department, told reporters at a news conference Wednesday. He said temperatures are estimated to have reached more than 100 degrees in the car within 30 minutes.
The incident appears to be the 28th such case nationwide this year, the first in New York since 2010 and the 589th in the United States since 1998, according to Jan Null, a San Francisco State University meteorologist.
Homicide Squad detectives alleged the 25-year-old father “forgot to remove his infant son from inside a 2003 Toyota” on Milburn Avenue at 1:40 p.m., police said in a news release.
Emergency Medical Technicians and Hempstead police officers who responded to the 911 call from the home started CPR when the baby was found unconscious and unresponsive.
The baby was taken to Mercy Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
Bail for Fenner was set at $50,000 bond or $25,000 cash. He is due back in court next week. He faces up to four years in prison, if convicted.
Lack said Fenner also had marijuana on him and prior arrests for drugs, but it was unclear if he was under the influence at the time.
Child Protective Services was notified and is conducting its own investigation. Fenner also has a 7-year-old son with the victim’s mother, who has a 4-year-old daughter not related to Fenner.
Fenner additionally has an 8-year-old son who does not live with him, police said.
