A heartbroken father is speaking out after realizing he left his infant son to die inside his parked car.
The baby was 11 months old.
In an interview with 98.5FM’s Paul Arcand, the child’s father speaks of what happened the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 17.
He was struggling to get his two older sons ready to go to a new day camp.
The father, who used the fictitious name “Simon,” said he took a new route, making him think he had already dropped off the baby at the Centre de la Petite Enfance Notre-Dame daycare in Saint-Jérôme, north of Montreal.
“I’d never put the baby in the car alone. You don’t do that,” he said.
Confident that he had dropped off all his children, “Simon” headed home to work and parked his car in the driveway.
“I went home. I closed the windows. I went inside and started working,” he said.
The car sat in the hot sun until 4:30 p.m., when “Simon” went back out to pick up his children.
READ MORE: Child dead after being found in parked car in Saint-Jérôme
“I got in the car. It was hot in the car. I opened the windows,” he said.
“There was no odor. I didn’t notice anything.”
When he arrived at the daycare, he said the educator looked surprised, saying “the little one didn’t come in today?”
“Simon” said that’s when he realized what had happened.
“At first I didn’t want to believe it. I crashed through two doors going out. I started screaming his name,” he said.
“Then I saw his little head, from outside. Because his little head was leaning to the side. I unhooked him. I took him out. I screamed. My God, I screamed.”
The infant, who had suffered from pulmonary complications since his birth, was taken to the hospital, but never regained consciousness.
“Simon” said he had to tell his wife and his two older sons what had happened.
“I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” he said, adding he blames himself completely for the infant’s death.
“Even the person I hate the most in the world, I wouldn’t want this to happen to them.”
The father said he hopes his heartbreaking story will serve as a warning to other parents.
rachel.lau@globalnews.ca
Follow @rachel_lau
Comments