Tyler parents arrested after child left in hot car for over 2 hours

SMITH COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) - Smith County deputies have arrested two Tyler parents after they left their 13-month-old in a vehicle last week following a day with family.

Sue Ellen Rose Strizich, 26, and James Stanley Tabor, 29, are each charged with second-degree injury to a child.

Timeline of events

According to a probable cause affidavit, deputies were dispatched to a Tyler hospital at 10:52 p.m. Aug. 30 in reference to a 13-month-old who had been left inside a vehicle for an extended period of time.

Deputies spoke to the parents and Tabor gave a timeline of events and locations that he and his wife visited that day. Tabor said they went out to eat with family before noon and then went to a trampoline park later that day. Tabor said they arrived at their home on U.S. 271 at 4:33 p.m. Tabor said he had been driving and once he arrived home, he helped his other daughter out of the vehicle before he went inside the home. He said he assumed his wife had taken the 13-month-old out of the vehicle and did not know she had not. Tabor said that everyone inside the home took a nap, not realizing the 13-month-old was still in the vehicle.

Child found unconscious

According to the affidavit, the child was left inside the vehicle for over 2.5 hours.

Tabor said that once everyone realized the child was not inside the house, they ran outside to the the vehicle and found the child unconscious. Tabor said they made the decision to take the child to a hospital and Strizich began performing CPR on the child.

According to the affidavit, the temperatures at the time of the incident were as high as 102 degrees.

Arrest and bond

District Judge Austin Reeve Jackson signed a warrant for their arrest on Sept. 4 and each were booked in jail on Tuesday and they each posted a $100,000 bond.