Idaho woman charged in boy’s death
3-year-old son shut himself in car while mother slept
A North Idaho woman whose 3-year-old boy died along with two family dogs after apparently wandering out of a house and climbing into a hot car has been charged with felony injury to a child.
Samantha Renee Lewis, 23, was charged Tuesday in 1st District Court, the Bonner County Daily Bee reported.
Lewis was appointed a public defender and released on her own recognizance. A preliminary hearing to determine if there’s enough evidence for a trial hasn’t been scheduled.
A criminal complaint said Lewis placed the child in harm’s way by going to sleep and leaving the child unattended in the small community of Spirit Lake. The complaint said Lewis knew about the child’s “propensity to leave the house and wander.”
Lewis and her boyfriend after both working late-night shifts picked up the boy from a day care center about 7 a.m. on June 11, according to authorities.
Lewis put on a television program for the boy, but the child went outside with two family dogs and entered a parked vehicle, the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office said.
Police said the boy was found at about 12:45 p.m. and that Lewis attempted to revive the child, but those efforts failed.
Court documents haven’t listed a formal cause of death. Preliminary findings indicated the cause of death as hyperthermia. Outdoor temperatures reached the low 80s in the area that day, according to the National Weather Service.
A message left with the Bonner County Public Defender’s Office on Wednesday wasn’t returned.