VERNAL, Utah — A Vernal man was arrested and faces reckless child abuse homicide charges after a child died earlier this week after being inside a hot vehicle alone for more than two hours.
The temperature inside the vehicle where the unidentified child was left was estimated to be at least 131 degrees.
Tommy Dean Platero, 34, was taken into custody Tuesday by the Vernal Police Department. Platero's relation to the child, whose age was not shared, was not released by officials.
Police were originally called to the Uintah Basin Hospital Emergency Department following the death of the child, who had a recorded internal temperature of 109 degrees.
Platero told police that he had left his home in Vernal to take the child to a daycare. However, he claimed that he forgotten to take the child to the daycare facility, and instead went to an area on North Vernal Avenue.
The child had been left in the carseat, unable to free themselves, with the vehicle shut off and windows up.
Platero left the child at 12:51 p.m. and didn't remember he had left them inside the car until 3:30 p.m. When Platero returned, he found the child not blinking or breathing, and foam was on the child's mouth.
Investigators later found the internal temperature of the vehicle to be between 131 degrees to 151 degrees while the child was inside.
