Father who left daughter in hot car charged with child abuse homicide

VERNAL — A Vernal father accused of leaving his young daughter in a car with the windows rolled up for over two hours, resulting in the girl's death, has been charged.

Tommy Dean Platero, 34, was charged Thursday in 8th District Court with child abuse homicide, a second-degree felony.

On Tuesday, Platero left his 7-month-old daughter "restrained in a car seat inside a shut-off vehicle with windows up for approximately 150 minutes while the outside temperature was approximately 92 degrees Fahrenheit. The vehicle interior reached 131 to 151 degrees Fahrenheit. The child was found unresponsive with an internal body temperature of 109 degrees Fahrenheit and was pronounced deceased at the hospital," charging documents state.

A police booking affidavit adds that Platero told investigators that he was taking his child to daycare, but "forgot to take the child to the daycare" and went inside a building about 1 p.m. He was seen running to his vehicle at about 3:30 p.m.

An initial court appearance is scheduled for Monday.

Related topics