Boyfriend Charged in Hot Car Death: Police

ARLINGTON COUNTY, VA -- The boyfriend of the mother of a toddler who died Wednesday after being left in a hot car for seven hours has been charged with Felony Child Neglect and Involuntary Manslaughter, according to Arlington County Police.

Daiquan Fields, 32, of Annandale, has been arrested and charged with Felony Child Neglect and Involuntary Manslaughter, according to Arlington County Police. Although the child was left in a car in Annandale (Fairfax County), the child was discovered unresponsive in the back seat of the car in Arlington County.

Police say on Wednesday, at approximately 3:27 p.m., police were dispatched to the 1100 block of S. Hayes Street, in front of Pentagon City mall, for an unresponsive child. The Arlington County Fire Department transported the child to the Virginia Hospital Center, where she was declared deceased, according to police.

Read: Season for Hot Car Deaths Is Here: What You Should Know

The initial investigation revealed a two-year-old girl had reportedly been accidentally left in the back seat of a car by a caretaker, police said. Arlington County Police's initial investigation has determined that a male acquaintance of the child’s mother was supposed to drop three children off at two locations Wednesday morning.

It appears he dropped off two older children, ages 10 and 15, and then returned to the home in Fairfax County, not realizing that the two-year-old remained in the back seat of the car, police said. Sometime later, Fields got back in the car to pick up the children’s mother. When he arrived at her location in the 1100 block of S. Hayes Street, he looked in the back seat area of the car and saw the child, police said. When he discovered that she was unresponsive, he immediately called 911, according to police.

Upon review, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner could not determine where the death actually occurred, Arlington County Police said. After consultation between Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney’s Office and the Arlington County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, it was determined the prosecution would be handled by Arlington County.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Detective N. Brooks of the Arlington County Police Department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit at 703-228-4169 or NKbrooks@arlingtonva.us. Information may also be provided anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).

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