Florida grandpa accused of leaving toddler in hot rental car at Daytona Beach airport
(Photo vis Volusia Sheriff's Office)
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - A Florida grandpa was arrested Monday after employees found a toddler in the back seat of the vehicle he returned to the Hertz car rental lot at the Daytona Beach International Airport, according to the Volusia Sheriff's Office.
Deputies assigned to the airport responded around 6 p.m. after an employee reported the girl had been left in the locked vehicle for about 45 minutes. Deputies said the car had been returned at 5:13 p.m. The temperature in the unshaded parking lot at the time of the incident was about 80 degrees.
The child's face was warm and streaked with dried tears, but she was breathing normally, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies initially were not able to make contact with the driver – then a call came in from the child's mother. The mother told deputies she was on her way to the airport after she learned her father left her daughter in the rental car – not at his home, as he’d told her.
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The girl, who was under 2 years old, was reunited with her mother and the Department of Children and Families was notified of the incident.
(Photo via Volusia Sheriff's Office)
After doing interviews and reviewing airport security video footage, detectives were able to identify the rental car driver as 62-year-old David Towner of Port Orange.
Deputies said Towner had been babysitting his granddaughter for the day and left her in the rental vehicle when he returned it. Towner was booked into the Volusia County Jail on a charge of child neglect.
Authorities said Towner was remorseful and cooperative with the sheriff's office's investigation.
Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood plans to issue citizens awards to the Hertz employees involved in the incident.