Sandrarose.com readers expressed outrage and skepticism after a Nashville man mistakenly left his black adopted daughter in a hot vehicle in Tennessee.
Metro Nashville Police say Matt Barker, who is Caucasian, dropped off Katera Barker and her 5-year-old sibling at a daycare on Wednesday morning. He then drove home and left his vehicle parked outside in the hot sun while he took a car service to the airport for a business trip.
Barker later said he didn’t realize he left Katera strapped in a carseat in the vehicle.
Katera’s adoptive mother, Jenny Barker, arrived at the daycare to pick up the children around 5 p.m., but she was told Matt did not drop Katera off that morning.
Panicked, Jenny called 911 and raced back home where she discovered Katera unresponsive in the backseat of the vehicle.
Jenny pulled the infant out of the vehicle and performed CPR until the medics arrived and transported the toddler to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Police say the incident is being investigated as a tragic accident. No charges are expected.
This case in no way compares to the Hart 6 case in California, where a white adoptive mother, Jennifer Hart, intentionally drove her six adopted children off a cliff amid allegations of child abuse and neglect.
