Florida mom high on meth forgot she had left newborn in hot car for hours resulting in baby girl's death
PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA: A woman has been arrested after she allegedly left her newborn in a hot car that resulted in her death. Megan Dauphin was allegedly high on meth and forgot to take the tot outside the vehicle. The tragic incident happened on September 2 less than two months after McKinley Garner was born on July 4. Soon after the emergency responders arrived at the scene, they announced the infant dead.
Police have arrested Dauphin for allegedly leaving the child in the roasting car for several hours on a 38-degree day in Panama City, Florida. The 30-year-old has been charged with aggravated manslaughter. One of the friends of the accused, who chose not to be named, told The Metro that after her baby’s death, Dauphin went for a party on the weekend. “The Megan I knew would have never done this so this whole situation is very shocking to me…All I keep picturing in my head is that beautiful baby girl wrapped up in the swaddle blanket I bought off your baby shower and to imagine her life get taken from that innocent child because of a mother leaving her child unattended in a hot car is so disturbing,” the person added.
When the Bay County Sheriff's Office launched an investigation into Garner’s death, they also probed the mother and found drug paraphernalia in her home, which is reportedly connected with crystal meth use. Dauphin was then ordered to go for a blood test, which reportedly confirmed that she was not in her senses due to drugs when her baby died. However, it is yet to be found what exactly the accused was doing when Garner was dying in the car.
Some unverified reports as stated by The Sun have said that Dauphin was staying with her family at the time of the incident and her father was at work and her sister was sleeping when she allegedly forgot Garner in the hot vehicle. Currently, the mother is in Bay County Jail awaiting her preliminary court hearing.
In another incident, a Maryland woman allegedly left her two kids inside a car amid hot temperature as she got her nails done at a nearby nail salon. The 22-year-old Keontae Moodie faced charge related to two counts of leaving her children unattended after local police found a three-month-old boy and a three-year-old girl inside the parked vehicle while the outside temperature was touching the 70s.
After discovering the children inside the car, police had to use a baton to break the backseat window of it to rescue the babies trapped inside “after several attempts to locate the parent or vehicle owner”. Paramedics also arrived at the scene to check if the kids were fine and after which Moodie was found inside First Class Nail Salon, which had its shades drawn because in May coronavirus lockdown was still in place. “We’re still in a pandemic and we still don’t have the solutions to the problem. Getting your nails done should not supersede the safety of your family, your kids, and others who you put yourself in contact with,” Sgt Vickie Warehime said.