You would think that it would go without saying - but - a news story from St. Paul over the weekend apparently highlights the need to remind parents to never leave a child unattended in a closed vehicle.  4-year old Riley Taylor died on Saturday after his father left him in a parked SUV while he worked at a special event at CHS Field.  Kristopher A. Taylor, 26, from Apple Valley, was charged with second-degree manslaughter this morning.

According to the police, the boy had been dropped off in custody of the father the day before.  Saturday morning, Taylor went to work at the ballfield, parking his vehicle out in the open of the elements.  Taylor suggests that he cracked the window "a quarter to half an inch" and left the boy unattended with a hand-held video game. According to the Star Tribune: 

Taylor said he last checked on Riley about 11:30 a.m. Saturday and returned about 5:15 p.m. after work to find the boy “stiff” and unresponsive, the complaint continued. Taylor then took the boy to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The temperature over the time period ranged from 70 degrees under partly cloudy skies around noon to 64 and mostly cloudy conditions as of 5 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled preliminarily that Riley died from hyperthermia.

The father also admitted to authorities that this wasn't the first time that he had left his son alone in a parked car - but the last time "he left one window down entirely".

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