Dustin Lee Dennis Tulsa Oklahoma father arrested after leaving two young children locked inside hot truck for 5 hours. Claims having fallen asleep.
### Update: An Oklahoma father who was arrested after his two kids died in a hot truck has been released — after a video showed the the two young children climbed into the vehicle of their own accord. The dad was initially arrested on two counts of second-degree murder, but prosecutors said no formal charges were filed against him at present.
### Original post: An Oklahoma father has been arrested after his two young children were found dead after having been left in a locked truck for five hours according to a report.
Dustin Lee Dennis, 31, was booked on two counts of second-degree murder after the two children, who are both under the age of 5, died Saturday outside of his Tulsa home, Fox23 reported.
Dennis a former US soldier according to his Facebook page, told police he drove with his kids around noon to a convenience store, but then returned to his home in the 1700 block of East 61st Street South and fell asleep for several hours.
When he woke up, Dennis couldn’t find his children, only to later then find them on the floorboard of his truck, the outlet reported. He then brought them inside to the living room, but paramedics were unable to save them. A family member identified the children Sunday as Teagan, 4, and Ryan, 3.
Tulsa OK dad pleads guilty to 2 kids hot car death as he played video games
Video showed the father locking his truck with his two children still inside
Police said a neighbor had a video of Dennis locking his truck and going inside without getting his children out.
‘The children had not been checked on for nearly five hours during the time they were locked inside vehicle,’ the arrest report said.
It remained unclear why the father chose to leave the two children locked inside the vehicle.
Of note, Saturday’s high temperature in Tulsa reached the low 90’s, according to the National Weather Service.
Hot car death
Within minutes of being left inside a hot car, a child can begin to suffer the life-threatening symptoms of heatstroke, according to kidsandcars.org. The inside of a vehicle acts like a greenhouse trapping in heat causing the temperature inside to rise very quickly..
Dennis was arrested and booked in Tulsa County jail, where he’s being held on a $1 million bond.
The cause of the children’s death was not immediately released.
