Yousef Nijmeh was working on a sidewalk repair project just outside his brother's house. He never realized there was an infant locked inside the suv parked a few feet away.
"It's tinted windows," he said. "We couldn't look inside, and there is no reason to look inside because I know he takes very, very... His baby is more important than anything else in the world for him."
The father had parked the SUV and then picked up this delivery van at his boss's house to refill vending machines from San Jose to Gilroy. But he forgot to drop off the infant at the babysitter.
"She thought somebody else was taking care of the baby," Nijmeh said. "She couldn't get hold of the father so she thought the baby was at another babysitter."
The temperature inside a closed, parked vehicle can rise to dangerous levels quickly. Dr. Anthony Montefusco, an emergency room physician at valley medical center, says an infant can suffer heat stroke when the body reaches 104.
"It causes damage to the brain and vital organs," Montefusco said. "Children can become lethargic and unresponsive very rapidly."
The infant was inside the SUV for about 10 hours until the father finished work and returned to his parked vehicle. He called police, but it was too late.
Neighbors said the father broke down and cried when he learned his son was dead. Friends say the family has two older children, a boy and a girl.
The district attorney's office will be reviewing the case to determine if charges will be filed.
