2-year-old left in Arkansas Wal-Mart parking lot dies of heat stroke
By: Nancy Cook
Updated: August 14, 2012
An Arkansas couple Friday
(August 10, 2012) was arrested and charged in the death of their 2-year-old
great grandson. According to Lt. Kevin Lewis of
the Springdale Arkansas Police Department.
William Staten, 51, and Margette Staten, 61, both were arrested and charged with negligent homicide in the death of their great-grandson, Joniah Darrez Preztyn Chronister, 2.
A week earlier, on Friday, August 3, the Springdale Dispatch Center received a call on a toddler left alone in a car at the Springdale Wal-Mart.
Springdale police say the boy arrived at Wal-Mart with his great-grandparents, but was left in the car for more than two hours. Although the great-grandparents thought they had been in the store about forty-five minutes, the investigation showed the boy had been left in the car for two hours and five minutes.
Both the Police and Fire Departments responded to the 4:40 p.m. call and found little Joniah unresponsive and without a pulse. The child was immediately transported to Northwest Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. The outside temperature was 102 degrees at 4:51 according to the National Weather Service.
The Arkansas State Crime Laboratory found that Joniah's death was caused by environmental hyperthermia, which is a fatal heat stroke.
