A Florida dad was arrested after allegedly leaving his toddler son in a hot truck for hours while he guzzled back beers and fireball shots at a bar – and returned to the same bar that night after his son died in the heat.
Scott Allen Gardner, 33, is accused of leaving his 18-month-old son Sebastian locked inside his truck for more than three hours while he got a haircut and went out for drinks in Ormond Beach, Florida, on June 6, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said.
Gardner was arrested Thursday on charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect causing great bodily harm.
Investigators said that the windows were cracked and the boy had a small fan, but that didn’t do much to help as temperatures swelled to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I want to start out by saying that this father is a human piece of garbage and he is a lying sack of s***,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said during a press conference Monday. “He’s exactly where he belongs to be – behind bars.”
Authorities said Gardner arrived at Classic Cuts around 11:30 a.m. and left his son in the car while he got a haircut. After, he went across the street to Hanky Panky’s Lounge, where he drank at least two rounds of beer and shots of Fireball.
Witnesses told authorities that they never saw Sebastian in the car or the bar that day, even though the dad had brought his son into the bar before.
During the nearly three hours he was at the bar, Gardner at one point stepped outside to look at a car crash in the parking lot – but did not take the opportunity to check on his son.
“How in the world can you be so messed up that you would allow your child to sit back there in Florida, in 90-degree weather, walk outside and check on some car but never go near your son?” Chitwood questioned.
Gardner left the bar around 3 p.m. and drove to his mother’s house about a mile away, only then discovering that Sebastian was not breathing, and called 911.
Chitwood said the baby had been left in the car for over three hours, during which temperatures rose to a scorching 111 degrees.
When medics arrived, the child was already in rigor mortis, and Chitwood said authorities believe he was dead for two hours before 911 was called. When Sebastian was taken to the hospital, his internal temperature was also measured at over 107 degrees, authorities said.
After leaving the hospital, Gardner returned to his mother’s home, and the two later returned to Hanky Panky’s, the bar he had been at earlier, with her.
“Father of the year, baby is dead. Investigation is still going on, what does he do? He picks up his mother and they go back to Hanky Panky’s for a few more cocktails,” Chitwood raged.
Gardner and his mother were at the bar until midnight, authorities said, noting they don’t believe Gardner’s mother knew at the time what her son was doing at the time of her grandson’s death.
Gardner was taken into custody two weeks later. He is currently being held at the Volusia County Jail without bond.
“I don’t think there’s a penalty on this Earth that could ever fit for the crime that was committed here,” Chitwood said. “It absolutely shocks the conscience for this to even happen.”
