Connecticut woman forgives husband who left son in hot car
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A Connecticut woman whose 15-month-old son died this month after her husband left him in a car on a hot day said Tuesday he is an amazing father and that she forgives him.
Lindsey Rogers-Seitz, of Ridgefield, said Kyle Seitz was extremely distraught after bringing their son to a hospital. She said she told her husband she loved him and made sure he looked at her.
"I love my husband," Rogers-Seitz said. "Of course I forgive him. But it doesn't mean that our lives aren't different now. So we have to move forward with a new different reality for us, and it's always going to be that way."
Rogers-Seitz, who also has two daughters, said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press that her family is grieving together.
Police say the father was supposed to bring son Benjamin to daycare but went to work and left the boy inside the car on July 7 for "an extended period of time." Temperatures in western Connecticut reached into the upper 80s on that day.
No 911 calls were made to police by the father, CBS affiliate WSFB reported.
A police investigation is continuing and the official cause of death has not been determined.
Rogers-Seitz declined to discuss details, citing the ongoing investigation. She said she is starting a website in her son's memory to raise awareness of the problem.
More than three dozen children die of hyperthermia in cars annually in the United States, and since 1998 more than 500 children have died in hot cars. Heatstroke can happen when the temperature is as low as 57 degrees, and car interiors can reach well over 110 degrees even when the outside temperature is in the 60s.