Distracted South Carolina dad won’t face charges in the death of twins in hot car, sheriff says

No charges will be laid for the deaths of 20-month-old twins after being left in a hot vehicle for more than nine hours, South Carolina authorities have said.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said the boys’ father believed he took the children, Bryson and Brayden McDaniel, to daycare in Blythewood, a suburb of Columbia, on the morning of September 1.

But the boys were left in the backseat of the vehicle while the man was at work, Lott said.

The man made the discovery just after 5:30 p.m. after going to daycare to pick up the boys. Lott said the man had faced work-related issues and the deaths were a “horrific, horrific and tragic accident”.

“The father was under intense pressure at work that really had his head elsewhere that day,” Lott said at a press conference Tuesday. “And in his mind, he really believed that he dropped the two boys off at daycare. There was no doubt in his mind that he had.”

The father, whom police have refused to name, works at a Richland County manufacturing plant.

“There were things that were going on at work, not your normal business activities, just things that were going on that he coped with at work. It helped,” Lott said, declining to provide further details.

Lott said interviewing the father was “heartbreaking.”

“The pure emotion that came out was not something you could fake,” he said.

Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford said the children were sitting in rear-facing car seats. The autopsy revealed no physical signs of trauma or abuse. She said on Tuesday the type of death was considered an accident and the cause would be listed as hyperthermia.

Rutherford said the heat index inside the vehicle on Sept. 1 was 120 degrees, NBC affiliate WIS of Columbia reported.

She said the boys’ father made a “terrible mistake” that he will remember all his life.

Lott told reporters the case was difficult to investigate. MPs, dispatchers and others who worked on the case received advice, he said.

“It’s something that’s going to get you.… You don’t even have to be a parent for something like this to have an emotional impact on you,” he said. “It’s tragic. It’s a parent’s worst nightmare. It’s also a community’s worst nightmare, because so many people cared about these two young people.”