A New York man has been charged in the deaths of his twin babies, who died after spending eight hours in a boiling hot car on Friday.
Juan Rodriguez was charged with two counts of criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter after the babies were found dead and “foaming at the mouth” in his back seat, according to the Daily Mail.
Rodriguez claimed to have forgotten that his babies were in the back seat of his car that he had parked before going off to work that day as a social worker at the Veterans Association hospital.
The 39-year-old suspect parked the car at 8 a.m. and did not return until his shift was over at 4 p.m. that day. By that time the children had already died from the super-heated car interior. Outside temperatures reached 86 degrees on Friday, the paper reports. But temperatures inside a locked car can reach to 172 degrees, officials said.
Officials added that the windows of the vehicle were heavily tinted preventing passersby from noticing the children were left alone inside.
Witnesses say the man was distraught upon realizing that his babies were dead in the backseat and he began screaming. The display prompted a bystander to call the police.
“He was going crazy. He didn’t know what he’s gonna do,” witness Enis Kricic told CBS.
A neighbor who knows the Rodriguez family was shocked by the incident.
“This was just a horrible mistake. That one time you make a mistake and you have to live with it for the rest of your life,” neighbor Tony Caterino told the media.
“It’s just horrible. They were a great family. Always doing things with the kids, always in the yard playing. They had a big camp out last weekend with tents in the back yard. He would always play catch or basketball with his older kids,” Caterino added.
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