‘She forgot’: Lawrenceville police charge mother after baby’s hot car death

A mother is facing charges after her 1-year-old son died inside her hot car in a Gwinnett hospital parking lot Wednesday afternoon, Lawrenceville police said.

Deja Coleman, 29, told investigators she forgot her son in his car seat after taking her older two children to daycare on her way to work at Northside Hospital Gwinnett, police said at a news conference Thursday.

She has been charged with murder in the second degree and cruelty to children, Lawrenceville police said.

“She forgot,” police spokesperson Capt. Dena Pauly said. “Her normal routine is to take the older kids into daycare, come back and retrieve the baby out of the car seat. And, unfortunately, yesterday morning she forgot to make that second trip.”

Police say they responded just before 4 p.m. to the hospital after receiving a call from a bystander who reported an “unresponsive child locked in a vehicle.” The bystander told police they had tried to bang on the car’s window, but the baby did not responded, Pauly said.

Investigators say the baby was in the car from around 6:55 a.m., when the mother arrived at the parking lot for work, until around 3:55 p.m., when police got into the locked car and found him dead in his car seat.

An hour after the baby was removed from the car and a window was broken, police said the temperature in the vehicle was recorded at 117 degrees.

All three of Coleman’s children typically go to daycare, Pauly said. Because one of the older children has medical needs that require special attention, the mother typically takes two of the children in first and comes back to take in the baby, Pauly said.

Coleman “was devastated” after police met with her in a conference room of the hospital and told her about her son’s death, Pauly added.