Photo: losangeles.cbslocal.com
Last week, Juan Rodriguez, a disabled war veteran who works as a social worker in the Bronx, drove to work and didn’t realize he forgot to drop his 1-year-old twins to daycare. They died in the hot car, with temperatures outside soaring into the 80s.
Rodriguez only realized he’d left the kids inside the vehicle after working a full shift and calling his wife to ask her to pick them up, as he was backing out and getting ready to run some errands. He was arrested immediately and charged with 2 counts of manslaughter and 2 counts of criminally negligent homicide, among others.
Yesterday, his indictment was delayed until at the end of the month, in what is seen as a move on part of the DA to drop the charges against him. At least, that’s what his attorney, Joey Jackson, believes will happen: as he puts it, this was a “horrible accident” and nothing more. The father is not responsible for it.
As such, Jackson is urging the DA to “do what we believe to be the right thing and that is to dismiss these charges,” according to USA Today. Rodriguez made a mistake: a fatal one, but a mistake nonetheless and he will have to live with it for the rest of his life.
“He made a phone call as he was leaving the hospital,” a law enforcement source says for Fox 6, “asking his wife to pick up the kids at day care. He was supposed to pick up a uniform for his reserve duty. He truly believed they were at the daycare.”
Rodriguez realized what happened when he looked in the rearview mirror of his SUV, after his shift. He immediately saw the rear-facing carseats and knew he’d made a huge mistake because, normally, he would drop off the kids in daycare still strapped in them. By then, though, it was already too late: the twins were foaming at the mouth and had died some time before.
According to Kids and Cars, 24 children have died so far in hot cars in the U.S. alone, either after being forgotten inside or left there on purpose.
Yesterday, his indictment was delayed until at the end of the month, in what is seen as a move on part of the DA to drop the charges against him. At least, that’s what his attorney, Joey Jackson, believes will happen: as he puts it, this was a “horrible accident” and nothing more. The father is not responsible for it.
As such, Jackson is urging the DA to “do what we believe to be the right thing and that is to dismiss these charges,” according to USA Today. Rodriguez made a mistake: a fatal one, but a mistake nonetheless and he will have to live with it for the rest of his life.
“He made a phone call as he was leaving the hospital,” a law enforcement source says for Fox 6, “asking his wife to pick up the kids at day care. He was supposed to pick up a uniform for his reserve duty. He truly believed they were at the daycare.”
Rodriguez realized what happened when he looked in the rearview mirror of his SUV, after his shift. He immediately saw the rear-facing carseats and knew he’d made a huge mistake because, normally, he would drop off the kids in daycare still strapped in them. By then, though, it was already too late: the twins were foaming at the mouth and had died some time before.
According to Kids and Cars, 24 children have died so far in hot cars in the U.S. alone, either after being forgotten inside or left there on purpose.
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