Sixty-nine-year-old Ruth Rodriguez, a Texas grandmother, faces a criminally negligent homicide charge in the death of her 9-month-old granddaughter, Gabriella Ruth Arroyos, after she allegedly left the baby inside a hot car for several hours.
A Facebook post stated that the City of Beeville Police Department appeared on the scene after the grandmother found the child unresponsive in the backseat of her car at around 4 P.M. on Aug. 21. Officials said the child had been in the car since approximately 8:30 A.M., seated in a child safety seat. When first responders arrived, the grandmother was holding the unresponsive baby in her arms outside a home near East Flournoy and Saint Mary’s, according to KRIS 6 News.
KSAT reported that Beeville Police Chief Kevin Behr said Rodriguez was on her way to pick up her grandson from his high school and realized the infant was still in the car
after the father called about the baby’s absence from daycare. “She failed to check her back seat. She forgot that the child was there. And again, didn’t discover the child until four o’clock that afternoon,” Behr said.Beeville Police Department and the Texas Rangers investigated the incident, finding the temperature in the car was 107 degrees. The grandmother posted a $50,000 bond for her release and awaits a trial before a grand jury.
The grandmother, who was taking care of the baby while her parents were at work, was hospitalized on Aug. 22 with a “severe medical condition.”
“Under extreme circumstances, if you see a child that’s been left inside a hot car, break a window if you have to,” advised Beeville Assistant Police Chief Richard Cantu Jr. “As the heat progresses or it gets hotter, we need to slow down and be more aware of who we have in the vehicle.” As of the date of Rodriguez’s incident, 27 hot car deaths were reported in 2024 across the U.S., with three reported in Texas.
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