A dad has been charged with child abuse which led to substantial bodily harm after his one-year-old daughter was found dead in a hot car.
Sidney Deal, based in Las Vegas, was arrested on Monday after he refused several efforts to free his daughter, Sayah, from his boiling hot car in which she had been trapped in for a whole hour.
The 27-year-old is now being held $20,000 bail whilst booked at the Clark County Detention Center. For medical reasons, he wasn’t able to attend the initial hearing.
The dad told police officers at the scene that he hadn’t wanted to smash in the windows of his Nissan Altima, as he was worried about the potential repair costs, according to The Daily Beast.
Sidney’s partner called an insurance company whilst at the scene, who offered to send around a tow truck. Yet Deal denied the offer as he couldn’t agree about a price.
Police officers then said that they would arrange for a locksmith to come. However, Deal then used a brief opportunity to speak with his brother on the phone.
According to KVVU-TV, Deal reportedly told the police officers that his daughter had simply fallen asleep and that he had left the air conditioning on in the car.
By the times the officers managed to retrieve Sayah from the car, she was already dead and her body had gone into rigor mortis.
The police described the death of the toddler as tragic, as she’d been subjected to a “high heat environment” for around an hour.
Initially, Deal had presumed that his daughter had fallen asleep in the back of the car when she suddenly stopped moving.
Artavia Wilson, Deal’s mum, told KLAS that her son was innocent. She said: “My son was not negligent the way he handled it.”
It was then reported by KTNV that police said Deal had accidentally locked the one-year-old in the car after he had a fight with his girlfriend. The girlfriend informed the police that he returned to her just moments after leaving with Sayah.
In addition to this, Deal had spoken on the phone to his brother, Samid, who later arrived and offered to punch in the window after he had wrapped a shirt around his knuckle.
Despite these efforts to help him safely get Sayah out of the car, Deal refused and actually prevented his brother from damaging the car. He said that he was concerned about the repair costs.
Yesterday, it is believed that Deal made his first court appearance.