On May 20, a dad reportedly left his two young children in his car while he went shopping at a thrift store.
According to the Associated Press, the father, Adrian Dreshuan Middleton Sr., told authorities that he left the air conditioning running, made sure the two kids had a snack with water and turned on a movie.
When Middleton return back to the vehicle where he left his children, he found his 6-year-old daughter upset.
Middleton told authorities that he noticed his daughter crying as he loaded his bags into the car, telling him she needed to use the restroom and that she did something bad.
That’s when the father saw a seat belt wrapped around his 1-year-old son’s neck and called 911.
As the AP reports, the little girl eventually told authorities that she was playing with her brother when the 1-year-old started to cry. She said she got angry when he wouldn’t stop, so she wrapped the seat belt around his neck to make him stop.
She “thought he had fallen asleep” when he finally stopped crying.
The infant was transferred to a Houston hospital where he was pronounced dead.
As KPRC reports, Middleton initially told police that he was only in the store for 30 to 45 minutes before finding his son unresponsive. However, surveillance footage from The Family Thrift Store showed that Middleton was shopping for roughly 90 minutes before returning to the vehicle where his children were.
Because of the little girl’s age, she will not face any charges. However, her father was charged on November 16 as a result.
According to reports, the 26-year-old was charged with child abandonment. He turned himself into police on November 19.
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