DEVASTATING police bodycam video shows first responders desperately trying to save a toddler after her dad left her in a scorching hot car.
Christopher Scholtes cried “please baby, please” while first responders tried – unsuccessfully – to resuscitate his two-year-old daughter, Parker.
Inside EditionInside Edition showed bodycam footage of Christopher Scholtes pacing and pleading “please baby, please” while first responders tried to save his daughter, Parker[/caption]
InstagramTwo-year-old Parker was found unresponsive on July 9 after her father left her in a hot car[/caption]
InstagramThe 37-year-old told cops that he left his daughter asleep in her car seat inside the vehicle[/caption]
Marana Police Department in Arizona arrested Scholtes, 37, and initially charged him with second-degree murder and child abuse after he allegedly left the toddler alone for several hours to play on his PlayStation.
He was booked into the Pima County Adult Detention Center on July 12, three days after Parker was pronounced dead at Banner University Medical Center.
Harrowing police video footage obtained by Inside Edition last Friday shows first responders trying to save Parker inside the house.
In the bodycam, the father – wearing a white T-shirt and dark shorts – can be seen pacing inside his home, while clutching his bowed head.
I can’t believe this.
Christopher Scholtes, police bodycam
“Please baby, please,” he can be heard pleading while first responders work on his child in a nearby room.
Scholtes is also shown speaking on his cellphone in the kitchen.
“I can’t believe this,” he can be heard telling the other person, in the call captured on the bodycam.
Parker’s mom, a doctor, had arrived home earlier to find the toddler unresponsive inside the 109F car – with the engine turned off, and no air-conditioner running.
Scholtes had told officers attending the July 9 incident that when he had arrived home, the girl was still asleep in her car seat, according to the police arrest report.
He told cops he had left the vehicle on and running in the driveway, with the air-con on and the child inside.
The father also told detectives he did not want to wake his daughter up, so her left her sleeping in the vehicle, while he went inside the family home.
“The mother was not home, but shortly after she arrived, the child was discovered in the vehicle, which was no longer running, and the air-conditioning was off,” according to police.
9-1-1 was called, and the mom performed CPR on Parker until the police and the Northwest Fire District arrived at the scene, where they carried out life-saving measures, to no avail.
“During the investigation, detectives obtained video surveillance from nearby residences and determined that the child had been in the vehicle for approximately three hours,” according to the cops.
In the department’s video footage, officers asked the father how long Parker had been inside the car.
KOLDMarana Police Department in Arizona, arresting the dad[/caption]
Pima County Sheriff’s DepartmentChristopher Scholtes was arrested and booked into the Pima County Adult Detention Center on July 12[/caption]
“I want to say it was no more than 30, 45 minutes, and I don’t think the air was off that entire time,” he responded, per the bodycam.
“I think there was a time in between – I had checked on her last, it was still running, she was still sleeping.
“And then when I went back out, the car was off.”
The first responders then warned him about his toddler’s condition.
“She’s very hot right now, and we’re going to do everything we can,” an officer can be heard saying in the video.
Scholtes was then filmed burying his head in his hands, while sitting at a table.
“Oh my God,” he said.
“So, I’m treated like a murderer?” he replied after an officer told him that police had to treat the home as a possible crime scene.
“No,” the cop responded.
ARRESTED
Three days after Parker’s death, police returned to the Scholtes’s house to arrest the dad.
Bodycam footage from July 12 shows him falling to his knees upon being told he was being taken into custody.
“No,” he exclaimed.
The force alleged that he became “distracted” while playing his video game and “putting his food away,” according to court filings.
During his first court appearance last Thursday, Scholtes pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges.
“First degree murder seems like a very, very heavy charge,” said Louis Fidel, Tucson attorney, following the dad’s court appearance, and subsequent release.
“It’s a tragedy of the utmost proportions.”
His wife had asked the judge to release him to return home to his family so they could “start the grieving process” together, reported the New York Post.
“This… big mistake doesn’t represent him,” she added.
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