Man Accused of Leaving 2-Year-Old in Hot Car to Appear in Court Today

A man accused of leaving a 2-year-old girl in a hot car in Annandale, resulting in her death, is due in court today.

Daiquan Fields, 32, was charged with felony child neglect and involuntary manslaughter after police say he unwittingly left the child in the car April 20 while relaxing in his home in Annandale.

The child reportedly wasn't discovered until the man and his girlfriend -- the girl's mother -- discovered her in the backseat after arriving later that day at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City in Arlington. The girl had been suffering in the heat for hours, and was pronounced dead at Virginia Hospital Center.

Court documents allege that Fields had gotten into a routine of dropping off the 2-year-old and her older siblings, who are 10 and 15 years old. Fields said that he normally dropped the 2-year-old with a babysitter before taking the two older children to school, but since they were running late that day, he dropped off the oldest child first and then the 10-year-old, and ultimately forget about the 2-year-old, according to an NBC Washington report.

Fields stayed at home all day before leaving late in the afternoon to pick up the mother, who worked at the mall in Pentagon City, which is when they found the toddler in the backseat.

Image via Arlington County Police