A 22-year-old disabled man, Dontarious Batts, tragically died after being left in a hot car by his caretaker, Rogers Lee Inge Jr., in North Carolina. Inge, who worked for Universal Health Care, was supposed to be caring for Batts but instead took him along to his second job as a janitor at Cleveland High School in Clayton.
Inge, 55, left Batts in the car with the windows up and the engine off during his 8 a.m. shift. He checked on Batts two hours later, claiming he was fine, but left him in the car for another six hours. When Inge returned to the vehicle at 4:17 p.m., Batts was unresponsive. He drove to a nearby fire station and called 911, but Batts was declared dead upon arrival.
Inge has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and is being held under a $35,000 bond. An autopsy will determine the exact cause of death, but investigators believe Batts died from heat exposure, as temperatures inside the car likely reached deadly levels. Inge has been fired from his job with Johnston County Public Schools.
