Florida grandfather charged with child neglect after dropping off rental car with granddaughter still inside

(WSVN) – A Florida grandfather was arrested after he was accused of putting his granddaughter’s life in danger, but the young girl is lucky to be alive thanks to some alert employees.

Deputies received a 911 call on Monday afternoon after the mother learned her daughter was alone, in a car, at the Daytona Beach Airport.

The child was in the back of a hot rental car for 45 minutes, officials said.

She feared the worst as she had little time to spare.

“He said that he had my daughter at the house and he left my daughter in the rental car,” said the mother over the phone. “I’m going to meet them at the airport. I’m going as fast as I can.”

According to investigators, 62-year-old David Towner dropped off a Hertz rental car with the 1-year-old girl inside. He was supposed to be babysitting her.

Hertz employees made the discovery and called the police. Staff member Makia Wallace consoled the little girl which may have helped her survive the ordeal.

“My son was in the care of someone else who I trusted and the story ended up that my son never made it back home,” said Wallace.

Wallace knows this story all too well as she lost her son in a hot car in September 2020. She said his caregiver left him in the backseat for 7 hours inside a car that reached a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

The state attorney ruled the incident an accident.

Wallace started a non-profit named after her son Jace, to help avoid a heartbreaking loss like hers.

“I need people to understand that this is a lesson that we need to be aware of. We need to be speaking about this,” said Wallace. “You don’t necessarily have to be a parent, in order to build good habits and looking in the back seat.”

Towner is being charged with child neglect.

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