William Wiesman: Alabama man charged with hot car death of grandson, 2, had returned to vehicle thrice in 7 hours
ONEONTA, ALABAMA: A Blount County man is facing charges after officials confirmed that his two-year-old grandson died on Tuesday, September 20, after being left in a hot car for seven hours. The boy was identified as Ian Wiesman. William "Bill" Wiesman, 56, is accused of criminally negligent homicide and reckless manslaughter.
The boy was discovered dead outside Kids Campus Daycare in Oneonta just before 3 pm Tuesday, according to the charging reports against Bill. He was in his grandfather's 2015 GMC Sierra pickup truck, on the rear driver's side. He died from prolonged heat exposure while strapped into a front-facing car seat. The affidavit reveals Bill got in and out of the truck three times while Ian was in his car seat.
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Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey held a press conference on Wednesday, September 21, and announced the warrants. She stated, "These are not intentional acts, they are negligent acts, they are reckless acts."
She added, "He always thought he took the child to daycare. On three occasions he was back in the truck and drove in the truck with the child in the back. As a result of his behavior, his acts, the child died." Bill is being booked while being held in custody. Casey also made it clear during the press conference that the daycare was unrelated.
Bill told authorities he had been dropping the boy off at daycare as the boy's mother recovered from hip surgery. He said that he would take the child out of the house on Springville Boulevard in the morning and take him about three miles to the daycare on Highway 75. He would usually leave Ian's car seat when he dropped him off so his aunt could pick him up from daycare and insisted that he had left Ian at the daycare on Tuesday before driving to SET Logistics in Oneonta to start work, reported by AL.com.
In an interview, Wiesman admitted to investigators that he had entered his truck at least three times after he had put the child inside, the first time at 7.55 am and the last time at 2.55 pm.
He told the investigators that he left work at 12:45 pm, got in his truck, and drove home for lunch. He got into his truck and drove back to work after going outside to smoke a cigarette and play a phone game. The daycare informed Liam's mother, Wiesman's daughter, that her son hadn't gone to daycare and that his aunt was waiting to pick him up when she called Wiesman at 2.45 pm Wiesman insisted that he had delivered the young boy. After that, Wiesman entered his truck for the third time and headed to the daycare. When the boy's aunt arrived at the truck, she discovered him unconscious.
The boy is the 29th child to die in a hot car in the United States in 2022 and the first in Alabama, according to Kidsandcars.org. On Tuesday, three children, including Ian, perished in sweltering vehicles. The other two were a two-year-old boy in Houston and an eight-month-old girl in Jacksonville, Florida.
Casey who is a mother of two became emotional and said, "It’s awful when it happens anywhere. It’s awful when you have to work these cases and then you go home to your babies and you see what you see, and videos. My heart breaks for this family. This family is very upset." She added, "As a mom, I don’t think anybody ever understands it. I didn’t sleep last night."