| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) A college professor whose 10-month-old son died after being forgotten in the backseat of a car during a heat wave will not be charged, prosecutors said Friday.
Prosecutors decided against filing an involuntary manslaughter charge against University of California, Irvine professor Mark Warschauer after researching similar cases, said Orange County Deputy District Attorney Mathew Murphy.
``In cases where an otherwise responsible parent with no history of abuse or negligence accidentally leaves a child in a car, and we cannot show (that there was) conscious disregard for the safety of the child, the law does not provide for criminal prosecution,'' Murphy said.
Warschauer is vice chair of Irvine's Department of Education and an associate professor of information and computer technology.
On Aug. 8, he drove to work and parked, forgetting his son Michael in the back seat of his car, officials said.
The boy remained in the car with the windows rolled up for over three hours before students noticed him and notified paramedics, who pronounced him dead.
Authorities said Warschauer, whom neighbors described as a doting father, was distraught when he realized he had left his child inside the car.
Warschauer's attorney, Jennifer Keller, said she was relieved by Friday's decision.
``The law does not support criminal liability on these facts, and in any event, no greater pain could ever be inflicted on this loving father than having to live with the loss of his beloved son,'' Keller said.