Father Accused of Leaving Toddler in Closed Car on Hot Day

A La Canada Flintridge man whom authorities say left his 2-year-old son alone in a hot car with the windows rolled up while he shopped was charged Tuesday with misdemeanor child endangerment.

The temperature inside the car reached 120 degrees during the 15 to 20 minutes the boy was left alone on Aug. 4 while Neil Arthur Jones was in the Home Depot on Sherman Way, the city attorney’s office said.

A passerby noticed the toddler alone in the car and notified a store security guard, who in turn called police and paramedics and paged Jones over the store’s public address system. “The kid was crying at the time, reddish in the face and sweaty,” said Deputy City Atty. Lisa Kissel.

She said Jones, 51, unlocked the car for paramedics, who gave his son water and wet his face to cool him down. Police did not arrest Jones, but did turn his son over to the county Department of Children and Family Services, Kissel said. He was later returned home, she said.

Kissel said charges were filed against Jones because leaving the child alone for so long in such hot weather was “excessive.” He faces up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, she said.