FL Dad Got Haircut, Drank At Bar As Son Died In Hot Car, Sheriff Says

ORMOND BEACH, FL — A Volusia County father was arrested weeks after his son died while being locked in a hot car as he drank nearby, officials said.

Scott Gardner was arrested Thursday and charged with aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter in the June 6 death of his 18-month-old son, Sebastian, Volusia County Sheriff ike Chitwood said during a news conference. (Watch the full news conference below.)

Gardner left the toddler in his car while he got a haircut that morning in Ormond Beach, the sheriff said.

He left the boy in the car when he went into the nearby Hanky Panky’s Lounge around noon. He drank beer and did Fireball shots for nearly three hours.

“This father is a human piece of garbage and he’s a lying sack of (expletive) and he’s exactly where he needs to be, behind bars,” Chitwood said.

Gardner called 911 when he got to his mother’s house nearby and reported that his son wasn’t breathing. Ormond Beach police responded to the home and the boy was pronounced dead.

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Initially, he claimed his son was left in the car with the windows down.

“But he’s a lying sack of (expletive,)” the sheriff said.

He later admitted to leaving the child in the car with the windows up.

The boy’s temperature at the time he was pronounced dead was more than 107 degrees and temperatures likely hit as high as 111 degrees when he was in the car, Chitwood added.

He likely died one to two hours before Gardner called 911, investigators said.

After his son was pronounced dead, he returned to Hanky Panky’s with his mother and they drank until about midnight.

Watch the full news conference:

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