Florida dad arrested after toddler dies in hot car

A Florida dad was arrested on Thursday in connection with the death of his toddler, who was left inside a hot car earlier this month while he got a haircut and a drink, according to law enforcement.

Scott Allen Gardner, 33, was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect causing great bodily harm in the death of his 18-month-old son Sebastian, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office said. 

Officers with the Ormond Beach Police Department assisted in Gardner’s arrest.

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Gardner’s son was “left helpless in a hot truck for more than three hours” during the afternoon of June 6 while he got a haircut and “went drinking inside Hanky Panky’s Lounge,” the sheriff’s office said, adding that medical personnel estimated that the toddler’s body temperature reached 111 degrees.

The sheriff’s office also said Gardner gave “multiple false accounts” of what took place on the day Sebastian died.

Gardner, who was taken into custody at his mother’s home in Ormond Beach, was handcuffed by the same Ormond Beach officer who tried to revive his son.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said to “never leave a child in a vehicle unattended for any length of time” and that “rolling windows down or parking in the shade does little to change the interior temperature of the vehicle.” 

“A child’s body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult’s. When a child is left in a vehicle, that child’s temperature can rise quickly – and the situation can quickly become dangerous,” according to the NHTSA.

“In 2024, 39 children died of heatstroke in vehicles — up 35% from 2023,” according to a report on the agency’s website.

Sebastian is the seventh hot car death this year and the 115th child in Florida to die in a hot car, the National Security Council’s website said.