After a report was issued last month saying that over 800 children have died over the last 20 years from vehicular heatstroke, and a record 52 kids died in hot cars in 2018, on Sunday, an Elizabethtown man was arrested after leaving his seven-year-old son unattended in a car while he shopped.
Ryan Hutson, 34, was charged with first-degree wanton endangerment after his son was found alone in a car in the parking lot of Big Lots on Sycamore Street. When police found the child he was “profusely sweating and unable to open the car door,” according to the News-Enterprise.
Police told the child how to open the door, gave him water and placed him in air conditioning. It was then that the boy pointed out to police that his father was walking into another store in the strip mall.
Hutson was lodged in the Hardin County Detention Center but is no longer listed as an inmate.
Police said the child was left in the car for almost 40 minutes, with the outside temperature at 78 degrees.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com or 270-259-6000
