Toddler Hot Car Death In Ridgefield, Conn., Ruled Homicide
RIDGEFIELD, Conn. (CBSNewYork) -- The death of a Ridgefield toddler left in a hot car last month has been ruled a homicide.
The medical examiner determined that the death of 15-month-old Benjamin Seitz was the result of hyperthermia due to environmental exposure, CBS Connecticut reported.
There was no immediate word from the state's attorney's office on whether the boy's father, Kyle Seitz, will be charged, WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau reported.
Toddler Hot Car Death In Ridgefield, Conn., Ruled Homicide
According to police, the father did not remember the boy was in the backseat when he locked the car and went into his office July 7. He was supposed to drop the child off that morning at day care, authorities said.
Later in the afternoon, Seitz discovered the toddler in the car, police said. He raced Benjamin to Danbury Hospital, but the boy could not be saved.
Bill Dunlap, a professor of criminal law at Quinnipiac University, told Schneidau the death could be ruled murder, manslaughter or recklessness, "which would require extreme recklessness -- disregarding an obvious risk that something serious could happen to the child."
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