An 8-month-old girl died after being left inside a hot car while her father was arrested.
Officials with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the girl’s father, Davied Whatley left the child in the car while he went into the Snellville Police Department to retrieve firearms that were taken from him in a previous case.
Snellville Police said in order to make sure they weren’t returning a gun to a felon, they ran a background check on Whatley.
They found there was a warrant out for Whatley, related to a misdemeanor probation violation, so they arrested him in the lobby.
The father was taken to the county jail and he bonded out hours later.
Police said Whatley contacted the child’s grandmother after he was arrested.
That was when the child's grandmother went to the car and found the child inside the vehicle.
The baby girl was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Police said Whatley never informed them there was a child in the vehicle during his arrest.
He is now charged with second-degree murder.
The Snellville Police Department has now requested that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation take over the case.
The child’s cause of death has not been released.
