While dad slept, toddler strangled in car window

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Police are considering filing criminal charges against a father who was fast asleep inside a car while his toddler, who was playing in the backseat, accidentally strangled himself with the car’s power window.

At first, a woman coming out of a nearby clinic thought the child was a baby doll.

It was only after the unidentified woman’s frantic screaming and pounding on the window that the father woke up and realized his son, Thomaris Waite, had his head caught in the car window, Hollywood police said. Police were not sure how long the child was stuck in the window.

The boy, remembered by family on Friday as a happy and energetic child, was later pronounced dead at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., less than two weeks from his second birthday.

Advocates who call for stronger child safety features in cars say the boy is the latest to die in a manner that has only recently caught the attention of federal legislators.

Hollywood police said Friday they are treating the incident as an accident, but have not ruled out negligence charges against the father, Thomas Waite, 42, of Miramar, Fla.

Family members said Friday that Waite was waiting in the car for his wife to return with the couple’s chronically ill 9-month-old daughter from a doctor’s appointment at Pediatrics Associates in Hollywood.

According to police, Waite parked the borrowed Monte Carlo in front of the clinic. The father turned off the car, but left the ignition on to listen to the radio. He then fell asleep while Thomaris sat in the back. The child was not in a car seat, police said.