A little boy who died after being left in his neighbor's hot van for more than seven hours, tried to get out. The woman who forgot about him that day was charged Friday with involuntary manslaughter.
"This was avoidable," said Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry.
Rimma Shvartsman, 46, was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child and leaving an unattended child in a motor vehicle.
The Feasterville woman drove two-year old Daniel Slutsky to daycare the morning of July 1. She lived near the Slutsky family in Feasterville and co-owned the daycare. When Shvartsman got to Fairy Tales Day Care in Penndel, she forgot about Daniel, locked up the van with the windows rolled up and went in to work, according to investigators.
Shvartsman didn't realize what she'd done for more than six hours, after she'd been running errands with the co-owner of the daycare, according to Henry.
"She opened the hatchback at that time, and found the child on the floor, unconscious. The temperature that day was approximately mid-80's. That child was clearly attempting to get out of the car seat and get out of the vehicle," said Henry.
Shvartsman carried Daniel inside the center and called 9-1-1. He was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead. His body temperature was 108.2 degrees. He died of hyperthermia.
"She exercised an option, which was, I will take this child to my daycare center, and in doing so, she had a duty of care to these parents and that child and she failed to meet it," said Henry.
Shvartsman had no comment coming out of court. In the past, her attorney Michael Mustakoff, said on her behalf that it was a tragic accident and "if there was any way that Rimma could revisit [that day's] events and undo them, she would do so in an instant."
The Slutsky family is suing Shvartsman for negligence.
