A New York father who left his one-year-old twins in the car while he worked an eight-hour shift told police, “I blanked out. My babies are dead. I killed my babies,” prosecutors said Saturday.
Juan Rodriguez told the officers he thought he had dropped the twins off at day care before he went to his job at a Bronx hospital on Friday, according to a criminal complaint filed by the district attorney’s office.
The 39-year-old Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to two counts each of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child. He was ordered held on $100,000 bond or $50,000 cash bail.
![Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.](https://globalnews.ca/wp-content/themes/shaw-globalnews/images/skyline/national.jpg)
Get daily National news
Investigators believe Rodriguez parked a silver Honda Accord with the twins, Phoenix and Luna, in carseats in the back. It appeared that he drove off after finishing work before realizing the children were in the car and frantically summoning help, police said.
WATCH: Police rescue baby left inside hot car in Walmart parking lot in Florida
![Click to play video: 'Police rescue baby left inside hot car in Walmart parking lot in Florida'](https://i1.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/895/279/HotCarRescue_qtp_848x480_733240899741.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
The boy and girl were pronounced dead at the scene.
A message seeking comment was left with Rodriguez’s attorney. He is due back in court Aug. 1.
There’s an average of 39 heatstroke deaths of children locked in cars nationwide per year, according to kidsandcars.org , a website that tracks the deaths. It says as of July 16, there had been 21 this year.
A cause of death for the twins hasn’t yet been determined.
Temperatures in the Bronx reached the mid-80s on Friday.
Police earlier identified the female twin as Mariza.
- California’s largest wildfire explodes in size as fires rage across U.S. West
- Canadian Olympic Committee exploring rights of appeal after FIFA strips soccer team of 6 points
- Strike on Israeli Golan Heights kills 11 and threatens to spark a wider war. Hezbollah denies a role
- Trudeau urges Israel response to UN court opinion on West Bank, Gaza
Comments