Virginia: Toddler dies after being left in a hot car for eight hours while foster father was at work
Hudley Owen Hamlett would have turned two on Saturday. Instead, the community gathered and held a candlelight vigil in his memory, just two days after the toddler was found unresponsive in the back seat of a car.
The discovery was made on Thursday afternoon when Hudley’s foster father, Brian Dalton, arrived at Chestnut Academy daycare centre around 3.30pm to collect the young boy. This was when the staff told Mr Dalton that Hudley had never been dropped off.
It was only then that Mr Dalton realised what had happened.
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Emergency responders and daycare staff attempted to revive the toddler, but he was pronounced dead in the hospital, as reported by ABC 13.
Mr Dalton was arrested at the scene and has been charged with abuse and neglect of children and involuntary manslaughter. Authorities say there is no indication the incident was intentional.
“It’s just a tragedy that you never, never expect to happen, never should happen, but it’s unfortunate that it did,” said Amherst County Sheriff LJ Ayers.
“As a man of faith, I would have to say that the only consolation that I can find in this is that this little fella has faced many challenges in his short life. Now, he has the ability to grow and flourish without life’s challenges in his eternal home.”
The sheriff said Mr Dalton is cooperating with the investigation and has expressed remorse.
Hudley’s biological mother, Jennifer Dalton, described the loss as devastating. The family is taking it one day at a time and believes the toddler is watching over them.
It is not yet clear why Hudley was in foster care.
His death comes less than a month after another foster child, a five-year-old boy in Omaha, Nebraska, died after being left for hours in a hot SUV. His foster mother, Juanita Piñon, was charged with child abuse by neglect resulting in death.
