A 5-year-old Peoria boy died Sunday after being left in a hot car. Now the boy’s parents are facing negligent homicide and child abuse charges.
The family had returned home from another child’s baptism and were hosting a party for dozens of people at their house when the father asked the family’s 14-year-old to help the 5-year-old out of the car, according to defense attorney Leah Dodd. But there was a miscommunication and the 5-year-old was left asleep in the vehicle, where he was not found until several hours later.
The high temperature in the Phoenix area Sunday afternoon was 105 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
The couple, Anca and Mihail Sabo, made their first appearance in court Monday. Dodd told the judge the situation was a terrible accident, not a crime.
“Everything that she did and that her husband did upon finding their child in the vehicle met the normal standard of care,” Dodd said. “This truly is a tragedy that Ms. Sabo and her husband are going to have to face for the rest of their lives and they should not have to do that in a jail cell,”
The judge set a $150,000 bond for each of the parents and ordered the couple not to have contact with each other.
According to the organization Kids and Car Safety, 51 other children have died in hot cars in Arizona since 1990.
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