Toddler dies in SUV, Purcellville man charged with manslaughter
By Gregg MacDonald
A Purcellville man has been charged with manslaughter after his 21-month-old adopted son was found dead in an unattended vehicle at his father's office in Herndon on Tuesday.
On July 8, shortly after 5 p.m., Herndon Police officers and members of Fairfax County Fire and Rescue responded to a call reporting that a child had been left unattended in a silver GMC Yukon in the parking lot of the Project Solutions Group, a consulting firm located at 580 Herndon Parkway.
According to David Zorger, a co-founder of the firm, a co-worker first noticed the boy in the vehicle and notified staff.
The child's father, Miles H. Harrison, 49, of Purcellville, is managing director of PSG’s relocation management division. Upon being notified, Mr. Harrison ran outside to check the vehicle.
Twenty-one-month-old Chase Harrison, recently adopted from Russia, was found deceased in the back seat of the SUV.
According to the Herndon Police Department, preliminary investigation revealed that the child was left unattended in the vehicle for an extended period of time.
“The windows of the vehicle were rolled up,” said Lieutenant Jeff Coulter of the HPD.
The boy had been restrained in a child safety seat, police said, although he had been taken out of the vehicle by the time they arrived.
According to Weather.com, the high for Herndon on Tuesday was 91 degrees.
When outside temperatures range between 80 to 100 degrees, temperatures inside vehicles can climb to between 131 to 172 degrees, according to a recent Centers For Disease Control and Prevention study.
An autopsy will be conducted this week to determine the exact cause of death.
Miles Harrison is being charged with manslaughter, but has not yet been served with the warrant. Police say that he had to be immediately hospitalized at Reston Hospital Center after being notified of his son's death.
He was eventually released, but according to police, he had to be hospitalized a second time after questioning at the Herndon Police station. As of Thursday, he remains hospitalized at a private hospital and will be served upon his release. His wife, Carol, was also questioned by police.
“This event serves as an important reminder that all parents and guardians need to understand the dangers of leaving children unattended for any amount of time in a vehicle,” the HPD said in a release.
Some other cases of children being left alone without supervision have also surfaced locally in the last few weeks. In those cases, vigilant observers also notified authorities.
Last week in Portsmouth, Va., a 5-year-old boy was left unattended on a school bus for about two hours after the school bus driver took the bus home after work, unaware that the boy was still in the vehicle. Neighbors later saw the boy and notified police. The child in that case was unharmed.
On June 19 in Vienna, a Centreville mother was charged after an employee of Patrick Henry Library called to report that a 6-year-old boy had been left unattended at the library.The child reported to employees that his mother had dropped him off at the library and then left.