Michael Dodes NYC school librarian leaves 1 year old daughter in hot car for over 5 hours. School employee is charged with child endangerment as officials slate to keep him away from children.
A NYC school librarian was arrested after he left his one-year-old daughter alone in a parked hot car for nearly six hours before his co-worker broke a window to rescue her.
Michael Dodes, 41, left the child in his Subaru Forester vehicle on Thursday while he was working at Walter J. Damrosch School on Jennings Street in the Bronx the nypost reported.
Another school employee saw the baby in the car and ‘frantically’ smashed the rear passenger window to get her out, according to police.
The child was taken to the Bronx Lebanon Hospital to be assessed and was found to have non-life-threatening injuries.
Reassigned away from students and children
Dodes was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
‘On Thursday, August 10, 2023, at 14:48 hours, the following on-duty New York City employee was arrested and charged within the confines of the 42 Precinct,’ a New York Police Department spokesman said.
Dodes, who is married with two children, is said to have been working as a newly-hired librarian at Walter J. Damrosch School but officials claimed he was set to begin next month.
‘We commend the heroism of the school staff member who took action to remove this child from danger,’ a city schools spokesman said.
‘Upon learning of this incident, the school immediately contacted NYPD and EMS who responded to the scene. This employee is being reassigned away from students.’
Dodes is a current employee of the New York City Department of Education.
Dodes appears to have worked as a librarian at various locations. He last was employed with the Queens Office of School Library Service as a library coordinator, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, he served as a library coordinator in north Brooklyn.
He served as a library media specialist, working with special need students in the Bronx and Harlem for more than nine years until 2016.
A profile for Dodes on the New York City School Tech Summit in 2021 read: ‘Michael has expertise in coding, instructional technology, copyright laws & licensing, and accessibility, all of which he runs extensive professional development on.
‘Michael served as a School Librarian in the Bronx and Harlem for 10 years before joining the Library Services team. He has expertise in Copyright Law, Privacy, Digital and Physical Accessibility, Coding, Website/Graphic Design, and Gaming.’
