Criminal defense attorney Michelle Suskauer recently spoke with Scripps News and WMAR-2 News about the legal consequences that can follow when a child is left in a hot car, and why these incidents often lead to criminal charges.
“In my experience in doing this for 34 years and also defending some of these cases, it’s rare that we see the state not take these charges into the criminal justice system,” Suskauer said.
Suskauer explained that there’s no uniform rule across the country. Whether a parent faces criminal charges depends on the state’s laws and how prosecutors choose to apply them.
“Sometimes we’re not talking about an intentional act; we’re talking about negligence, but negligence that rises to the level of a crime. And so it depends state by state, how that gets addressed,” she noted, adding that in Maryland, simply leaving a child under the age of 8 unattended is a misdemeanor.
She also stressed the danger of leaving a child in a vehicle, even for a short period of time.
“The temperature in a vehicle rises exponentially once the car is turned off. There’s no safe amount of time to leave a child unattended in a car,” Suskauer said.
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