Lawsuit filed in hot van death

Lawsuit filed in hot van death

Family seeks damages after child left in daycare transport van

ralphhardin@gmail.com Tragedy struck June 12 in West Memphis when 5year-old Christopher Gardner Jr. was killed after being left in a daycare van for more than eight hours on a hot summer day.

Now, a wrongful death lawsuit has been filed by the family of the boy, according to attorney Leslie Ballin of Ballin, Ballin & Fishman, a Memphis-based law firm.

Gardner was found unresponsive in a transport van at Ascent Children's Health Services in West Memphis.

Gardner was picked up at his home a little after 6:30 a.m. that morning, and apparently left in the vehicle when it arrived at the center an hour later. His lifeless body was found in a carseat in the back of the van around 3:30 p.m.

Four Ascent employees were fired over the incident. All four women were eventually charged with Manslaughter over the child’s death.

“This would be nearly impossible, if you were paying attention, to miss this child where he was seated in the van,” said West Memphis Police Captain Joe Baker.

By Ralph Hardin