Boy, 3, found dead in day-care center van
Driver charged with manslaughter

Tuesday, June 7, 2005 Posted: 12:29 PM EDT (1629 GMT)



LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- A 3-year-old boy died after being left in a day-care van for hours while the temperature was in the 90s, and the driver was charged with manslaughter, police said Tuesday.

Marcellus Johnson, was to have been dropped off at his home in Little Rock around 3 p.m. Monday, but van driver Rancocas Foreman skipped the boy's stop, went home and parked and locked the van before leaving for his second job, authorities said.

Marcellus' parents called police after 8 p.m., and around the same time Foreman remembered the boy, went home to check the van and found Marcellus' body, police spokesman Sgt. Terry Hastings said.

While officers were investigating at the Child Care Center of Arkansas, Foreman arrived and told police "he knows where the child is and the child is not OK," Hastings said.

Foreman, 22, of Little Rock, was charged with manslaughter because he could have easily seen the boy in the van, Hastings said. The temperature reached 94 degrees Monday afternoon in Little Rock.

"The child was clearly visible from the driver's seat," with his legs dangling in the aisle, Hastings said.

Marcellus was to have been dropped off first on Foreman's route, but Foreman had trouble making a left turn from a busy street and went on to his next stop and did not return, Hastings said.

Foreman was freed on $10,000 bail. He didn't have a listed phone number, and there was no answer Tuesday morning at a phone number for the day-care center.

Hastings said he had no explanation for why there was about a five-hour gap between the time the boy was to have been dropped off and police being called.

That's very sad. I can understand how it can happen, though. It's so easy to get into a routine of going from one stop to another. Any variation in that routine can throw you off.

It's very unfortunate.

That is totally irresponsible. He just decided to skip that dropoff. Yeah...moron. Fry in the depths of hell.

That's terribly sad. It happens too often, even with parents forgetting to drop their kids off at daycare and leaving them in their cars in their workplace parking lots.

This is a terrible case of negligence. I am curious as to why the parents didn't call the police until 8pm. The boy was only three years old and was supposed to be dropped off at 3. Even if a sitter was waiting for him, it doesn't make sense how five hours passed.

Some people can be so stupid. How can you forget that there's a little kid in your car?