Hot Car Death: Minnesota Father Leaves 4-Year-Old Alone For Nearly Six Hours To Work

A 4-year-old boy is dead after his father left him in his car for nearly six hours, with the father later telling police he was unable to find anyone to watch him while he worked. Now, the parent is being charged with second-degree manslaughter.

The tragedy took place on Saturday after Kristopher Alexander Taylor, 26, of Apple Valley, Minnesota, left his son, identified by a family friend as Riley Taylor, in a parked SUV that was "entirely exposed" to sunlight, the police complaint reads, reports Star Tribune. He was charged on Monday.

Taylor was working at the Minnesota Monthly 8th Annual Grillfest at CHS Field in St. Paul, and cracked one window just slightly for his son, about one-quarter to one-half inch. He also gave him a handheld video game to keep him occupied. Taylor told police the last time he went to see how his son was doing was at 11:30 a.m. His shift ended at 5:15 p.m.

Read: Father Accidentally Shoot His Daughter While Changing Her Diaper

When he returned to the vehicle, Riley was "stiff" and unresponsive, so he then took him to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A preliminary ruling from the medical examiner reported that Riley died of hyperthermia.

Riley had been left in Taylor's care around 2:30 a.m. Friday while the mother went to work, the complaint noted. He was their only child.

Allison McGill, a friend of Taylor's mother for the past 10 years, described Taylor as "an amazing kid, a straight-A student who works so hard and loved Riley so much."

However, this is not the first time Taylor left his son alone in his car for hours. “Taylor said he had done it once in the past about a year ago and nothing bad happened to the boy on that occasion, but he admitted he had left the window entirely down that time,” the police complaint reads, as reported by the New York Post.

After posting $25,000 bail, Taylor is scheduled to return to court on Friday.