Toddler Dies After Forgetful Dad Leaves Her Locked In His Hot Car

Lucio Petrizzi is facing manslaughter charges after he forgot to drop 22-month-old Elena at daycare and went to work, leaving her trapped in his SUV as temperatures soared to 86 degrees.

By the time he realized his mistake, Elena was unconscious and badly dehydrated. She was rushed to hospital in Ancona, Italy but failed to recover and died three days later, on May 21. Such a sad story. Should the dad be punished?

“I just don’t know what happened,” Lucio Petrizzi, a 45-year-old university lecturer, tells cops. “I was convinced I had dropped her off. I locked the car and went to work — it’s as if someone pulled the plug out of my brain.”

Lucio’s grief-stricken wife Chiarra — who’s also eight months pregnant — has urged the police not to charge her husband, insisting his mistake could happen to anyone.

She says, “He is not to blame. He is always so busy rushing here there and everywhere. He was always busy himself with me and Elena. He is not guilty of anything. He is an exemplary father.”

Can you sympathize HollyMoms? Or should he be prosecuted?

– Ian Garland

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I’ve gotten all the way to work only to realize I never dropped off my child and had to turn back around. Putting this man in jail will not help anything, he made a terrible mistake but it wasn’t malicious or purposeful. Putting this man away will do more harm than good. How many kids have died recently because parents tried to cover up their mistakes instead of taking the child to the hospital? I see all types of moms driving recklessly with their kids in the car, or crossing the street against the light with their kids in tow; great role models folks. So when your 10 year old crosses at the red light and gets hit you should go to jail, right. He will never see his daughter again and its all his fault that is worse than any punishment the court could give him.

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nooo, it could not happpen to anyone of us!! being busy is not an exscuse for forgeting your toddler in the car! this baby is dead because of his mistake! hell yes he should be punished! i am the single mother of two baby boys, a full time honors acadamy student and also have a full time job, am i busy and stressed and over whelmed? yes! but i have never forgotton my boys in the car! or done anything else to cause them harm or death!..there is no exscuse for this..period.

am with you there, really how do you forget your own child!! like no really how to you for get ONE CHILD, wat parent dose that, if he was my husband id kill him full out beat him to death,
btw good for u doingi t with two kids i can barly get thought college with one child and 2 jobs and clearly if you can do all that and not forget your childern but late for work isnt an exsuse for leaving a kid in a car to die

Somethings not right with this story, the mom seems waaaay too forgiving and calm. Horrible thing to say, but I dunno if it was an accident.

This is a truly tragic story and I ask people to refrain from judging these parents… They will have to live with this for the rest of their lives and none of us can blame them more than they blame themselves.

Any slight variation to a busy, hectic morning could yield these results. I’ve done it myself, when after dropping my toddler off at daycare, I literally went into a BLIND PANIC because I thought I’d left her back at home (with the child safety gate at the top of the stairs open, no less). What was my big disruption? Being on the phone with her father during the drop-off, who ‘thank God’ brought me back to reality in a hurry.

My heart breaks for that entire family.

I can’t believe that the father would do that!! If i were the mother i would be angry but why would the mother not want to press charges he KILLED her little girl! If it was not him droping her off she would still be well and healthy as we speak but now she is planing a FUNERAL for their now DEAD CHILD!!!!

We don’t need baby carseats with alarms…we need parents with COMMON SENSE. How does this kind of thing happen? Unless the child is asleep they have to be making some kind of noise in the car as you’re driving along. You must SENSE that there’s someone in the vehicle with you. Finally, when you get out, no matter how big the vehicle is, don’t you glance in the backseat?

You notice with most of these cases, it’s the dad who leaves the kid in the car. Most moms would never make that mistake. Sorry, but if that was my husband I wouldn’t be trying to get him off…I’d be searching the yellow pages for a divorce attorney. Actually, I take that back-I’d be searching for a funeral home because I’d kill him with my bare hands.

@ bermudagirl, my thoughts exactly!!

Hey dnt judge him! Wat if he actually mde a mistake? I fil sorry 4 d family.

Heartbreaking but it could happen to any one of us. Wonder when car makers or car seat makers will come up with some kind of alarm that fits under the carseat and is triggered by the weight of the baby. Once the key is removed from the ignition, an alarm will sound to alert the parent that the child is still in the seat. You won’t be able to lock your car doors or shut the alarm off until the child is removed from the car seat. Just an idea…could save many lives.