Jaw-dropping callousness of father who went drinking AFTER his son baked to death in hot car

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

An 18-month-old boy died after being left inside a parked truck in the Florida heat while his father drank beer and took shots at a bar, but in an act of callousness, after the toddler's death, the man returned to the same bar for another round of drinks.
Authorities say Scott Allen Gardner, 33, of South Daytona, displayed an appalling level of indifference and deception after abandoning his son, Sebastian, for more than three hours in sweltering heat.
By the time Gardner finally called 911, the child's body temperature had soared to a staggering 111F and it was too late.
'This father is a human piece of garbage, and he's a lying sack of s***,' Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood said during a searing press conference.
'He's actually where he belongs to be, behind bars. There's no reason for this little boy to be dead.'
Gardner is being held without bond at the Volusia County jail on charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect causing great bodily harm.
The deadly sequence began on the morning of June 6.
Gardner arrived at Classic Cuts, a barbershop in Ormond Beach, around 11:30am leaving his 18-month-old strapped inside a car seat inside his truck.
The temperature outside hovered around 90 degrees. The windows were cracked open and a small fan was running in a feeble and ultimately futile attempt to offset the Florida heat and humidity
After his haircut, Gardner crossed the street to Hanky Panky's Lounge, where he is alleged to have drank for nearly three hours.
He left the bar at 2:40pm to drive to his mother's home where he finally called 911.
Investigators believe Sebastian had already been dead for two hours and when Ormond Beach police arrived, they found Sebastian unresponsive.
Emergency crews rushed him to the hospital, but it was too late. Doctors reported the toddler's internal body temperature to have exceeded 107 degrees.
According to Sheriff Chitwood, Gardner later picked up his mother who was reportedly unaware of Sebastian's death and went back to Hanky Panky's Lounge for more drinks.
'I don't think there's a penalty on this Earth that could ever fit for the crime that was committed here,' Chitwood fumed. 'It absolutely shocks the conscience.'
Gardner's behavior enraged law enforcement.
'There's no reason this little boy should be dead. None. Zero. This was not an accident. This was gross negligence, deception, and absolute callousness. He went back to the bar,' Sheriff Chitwood said, not holding back his disgust.
'During the investigation, Gardner gave multiple false accounts of what occurred that day,' the Volusia Sheriff's Office stated. A neighbor told a local news outlet that Gardner had lied to them claiming his son 'died of a fever.'
Authorities arrested Gardner at his mother's residence, in what appeared to be a screened-in outdoor area.
Bodycam footage showed the same officer who tried in vain to save Sebastian placing Gardner in handcuffs.
'Honey, I love you,' Gardner's mother, Jody Thereault, could be heard saying during the arrest.
'Love you guys,' Gardner replies.
'Say goodbye, because you're not going to come back here again,' another voice can be heard saying.
A GoFundMe page, created before Gardner's arrest, raised $2,828 for funeral expenses.
It described Sebastian as a 'bright light' who would 'forever remain in the hearts of all who knew and loved him.'
'No parent should ever have to experience the pain of losing a child,' the now-closed fundraiser reads. 'I hope they can find some comfort in the love and support surrounding them.'
Sebastian's death marks the seventh hot-car child fatality in the United States in 2025.
Last year, nearly 40 children died in similar circumstances - most under the age of 3, often left unknowingly by a caregiver.
Safety experts urge parents to leave a diaper bag or toy in the front seat as a visual reminder, and to open the back door every time they exit the vehicle, even if they believe the child isn't inside.
Kids and Car Safety, a nonprofit tracking such tragedies warns: 'It only takes minutes. A car can heat up 20 degrees in 10 minutes. And a child's body overheats three to five times faster than an adult's.'
Sebastian's short life was marked by innocence. His family remembered him as a 'bright light' - a child whose memory, they said, will 'outlast even this unfathomable loss.'