Man whose child died in hot car won't be charged

LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) -- A Jefferson County grand jury decided Thursday not to indict a man whose 8-month-old son Lincoln Lindsay died after he left him in a hot car.

The grand jury had been considering a manslaughter charge against Michael Butler Lindsay.  The family's attorneys say there was never a criminal intent to hurt the child and the grand jury knew that.

Steve Romines, Lindsay's attorney, says, "Do we need to start trying to prosecute and incarcerate people for something that is a tragic accident? I think the grand jury correctly came to the conclusion that the answer is no."

The child was pronounced dead at the home. The cause of death was determined to be, "complications of environmental exposure - ambient heat due to entrapment in an enclosed motor vehicle."

The coroner's office says the child spent the afternoon in the back of his father's car in his rear facing car seat, which was parked at his father's workplace in the east-end.

Romines says, "As a general rule, Lincoln woke up early that day. So he would ordinarily be awake when he was going, but he was asleep. But when he was awake he was making noise and things like that." He says with the recent move to the home and a new job, Michael Lindsay was out of routine and forgot.

When the father realized what had happened, he rushed the child home instead of calling 911. Romines says, "His wife is a doctor and his sister is a doctor, a pediatric internist. He wanted to get him home as quickly to his wife as possible."

The coroner's office ruled the death an accident. The Commonwealth's Attorney says he isn't surprised by the grand jury's findings.

Dave Stengel, the Commonwealth's Attorney, says, "I don't think had it been indicted, I don't believe we would have been able to get 12 people to agree on that." When asked why it was even presented to the grand jury, Stengel says, "We looked at what we had done in the past, and we had always submitted them and we wanted to keep it the same way."

Romines says, "This is a tragedy, but charging him would only make it even more tragic. Hopefully now they can start healing."

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