KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – After a video arraignment Wednesday, 36-year-old Chad Martin of Athens has been released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond after being charged with leaving a child in a vehicle causing death.
It was his first appearance in court after turning himself in the Kalamazoo County Jail Wednesday morning.
Martin found his three-year-old son still strapped into his carseat in the back of his SUV in August outside a grocery store in Vicksburg.
He had gone to work at a factory in Brady Township near Vicksburg at 6:40 a.m. August 13, left work around 3:00 p.m., and then went to the Family Fare store for groceries and found his son in his rear facing car seat when he came out of the store.
Martin reportedly was sobbing when a bystander told a store worker to call 9-1-1.
He told police nothing was different about the day as he wasn’t running late.
The child’s death is believed to be from prolonged heat exhaustion as the high that day was 83 degrees.
If convicted, Martin faces up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. His next hearings are scheduled for December 3 and December 10.
(Additonal reporting from WKZO’S Michael Arney)
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