(KALAMAZOO) – An Athens man has been arraigned on charges in the death of his three year old son.
Kalamazoo County District Court officials say 36 year old Chad Martin had a video arraignment Wednesday and was charged with a felony count of leaving a child in a vehicle causing death. A charge of child abuse was dropped by the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office.
Martin turned himself into the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday morning. He was released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond
According to records obtained by Swick Broadcasting from the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office, Deputies along with the Vicksburg Police Department were called to the parking lot of the Family Fare Grocery Store in Vicksburg at 3 PM on August 13. Martin came out of the store and found his three year old son dead in his car seat.
Martin told officers that he had left his house in Athens at 6 AM with his son and daughter. He dropped his daughter off at her day care and forgot his son was in the vehicle, and drove to work in Vicksburg.
After work, he went to the grocery store, where cameras have him coming in at 3:05 PM and leaving at 3:15 PM. As he was putting the groceries in his vehicle he noticed his son in the car seat, unresponsive.
Authorities determined the boy was dead, and that he died between 7 AM and 3 PM while his father was at work. It’s believed that the child died from heat exhaustion, and the manner of death is being ruled accidental.
Martin is scheduled to be back in court for a pretrial conference on December 3 and a preliminary hearing on December 10.
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