The father of a 1-year-old girl who was pronounced dead after being found unresponsive in a vehicle in the unincorporated View Park community near South Los Angeles was charged Friday with a felony count of child abuse resulting in death, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.
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Edwin Wallace Johnson, 40, of View Park, is expected to be arraigned Monday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.
The charge stems from the death Tuesday of the girl, identified by the county Medical Examiner's office as Maeve Blakeley-Johnson.
The determination of the cause of the girl's death has been deferred, according to records from the Medical Examiner's office.
"It's a really tragic accident and the family's doing everything they can to help the situation," Johnson's attorney, Jacob Glucksman, told City News Service.
Deputies responded about 3:10 p.m. Tuesday to the 300 block of Chanson Drive, north of Slauson Avenue and east of Crenshaw Boulevard, after receiving a report of a child not breathing, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
"The call involved a child who was found unresponsive in a vehicle. Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel also responded and pronounced the child deceased at the scene," according to a statement released by the sheriff's department.
Johnson was initially arrested late Tuesday, then released on bond Wednesday before being re-arrested that day, according to jail records, which indicated that he was still behind bars early Friday afternoon.
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