Dad Facing Charges After He Forgets to Drop Daughter Off at Daycare, Leaves Her in Car for Hours

A Utah man was arrested for accidentally leaving his 7-month-old daughter in a hot car for more than two and a half hours, resulting in her death.

Tommy Platero, 34, was arrested on Tuesday, July 28, and charged with child abuse homicide, according to a press release shared on the Vernal Police Department’s Facebook page.

According to the release, Platero brought the infant to the hospital after he discovered he’d left her unattended inside the vehicle for “a substantial period of time with the windows up.” Once he realized what he’d done, he found the child unresponsive in the car and immediately brought her for medical treatment. However, she was pronounced deceased at the hospital upon arrival.

An official cause of death has not yet been determined.

According to an arrest affidavit reviewed by Law & Crime, the child had a recorded internal temperature of 109 degrees Fahrenheit before her death. The temperature in the car on the 92-degree day reached as high as 151 degrees.

Platero, who is a Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) employee, told police that he left a residence in Vernal planning to take the child to daycare but forgot and drove instead to a UDWR parking lot. He exited the vehicle and forgot about the child for roughly two and a half hours before he remembered and went to the vehicle.

“When Tommy parked the vehicle, the vehicle was shut off, windows up, and most likely locked,” the affidavit reads, per Law & Crime. “He ran to the vehicle around 3:30 p.m. and noticed the child was still in the vehicle. Tommy saw the child was not blinking or breathing and there was foam on the child’s mouth.”

Platero was reportedly booked into the Uintah County Jail, where he is awaiting formal charges.