Murder charge: Baby left in car when father was arrested
(CNN) — The father of an 8-month-old girl who died in a car while he was in police custody has been charged with her murder.
Davied Whatley, 20, was arrested Wednesday in connection with the child’s death the previous day, Georgia Bureau of Investigation officials said during a news conference.
Whatley is accused of leaving his daughter inside the car in the parking lot of the police department in Snellville, east of the Atlanta metro area. He had gone into the headquarters around 2:15 p.m. Tuesday to retrieve a gun from the property custodian. When an officer checked Whatley’s record and found he had a warrant for an alleged probation violation, he was taken into custody.
Investigators said at no time did Whatley inform them that a child was inside the vehicle. They said all interactions with the man were recorded on video.
His mother, however, told an Atlanta TV station that Whatley asked multiple times to make a call so someone could get his daughter.
Police said that at some point Whatley called a friend, who then contacted Whatley’s mother. She went to the car around 9 p.m. and found the child.
The baby was taken to an emergency room, where she was pronounced dead.
The area saw a high temperature of 86 degrees Tuesday, according to National Weather Service data.
Whatley bailed out of Gwinnett County jail Tuesday night on the probation violation but was expected to be returned there Wednesday on the second-degree murder charge.
The-CNN-Wire
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