A Georgia man is back in custody after leaving his daughter in a hot car while he was booked on a separate charge. Police say at no point did he tell them he had left a baby in his car.
Davied Japez McCorry Whatley, 20, arrived at the Snellville Police Department around 2pm on Tuesday to retrieve firearms that had previously been confiscated in connection with a case.
Whatley was then arrested in conjunction with a misdemeanor probation violation while he was with the “property custodian” after a standard background check uncovered an outstanding warrant. The violation was linked to a hit-and-run without insurance.
Throughout the ordeal, Whatley’s 8-month-old daughter Nova Grace Whatley-Trejo sat locked in his hot car. The baby’s grandmother finally brought her to the emergency room at Piedmont Eastside Medical Center around 9pm, seven hours after Whatley’s arrival at the police station, telling hospital staff the baby was abandoned in the car after a “traffic stop.”
The baby was declared dead by hospital staff.
Whatley bonded out of jail on the probation violation Tuesday night but was arrested again Wednesday and charged with second-degree murder in the death of his daughter.
Police say all of Whatley’s exchanges with police from Tuesday were recorded on body cameras and that he never mentioned leaving his daughter in the car while he was at the station. Police located his car parked at the adjacent City Hall after the baby had already been pronounced dead at the hospital.
You can see the Snellville Police press conference on the infant’s death below.
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