Have y’all heard about this case? Last Wednesday a Nashville business man named Matt Barker strapped his two kids into their seatbelts and drove them to daycare. Everything was hunky dory except for one thing. Matt only removed the five year old from the car. The one year old adopted baby girl was never taken out of the vehicle.
Matt drove happily to his home, exited the car, walked into the house, and returned outside only to be taken away by another car traveling to the airport. Little one year old Katera was left all day in a car with temps reaching well over 90+ degrees.
Here’s more from CBS.
“Nashville officials said they are unlikely to bring charges in the death of 1-year-old Katera Barker, who was forgotten for several hours in her father’s pickup truck, CBS Nashville affiliate WTVF reports. The tragedy occurred Wednesday morning after her father, Matt Barker, brought Katera and her 5-year-old sibling to day care at approximately 7:30 a.m., forgetting to drop his youngest daughter off as well.
Around 8 a.m., Barker returned his truck to the driveway outside his East Nashville home. He left minutes later in a rideshare vehicle for the airport, unintentionally leaving the child in a car seat in the rear seat of the truck.
When Barker’s wife, Jenny Barker, went to retrieve their two children from the daycare after work, she was told that their youngest child had never been dropped off. Officials said it was while calling her husband that she realized the child might still be in his back seat.
Barker found her daughter in the hot truck shortly after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and performed CPR on the child until first responders arrived. The child was rushed to Vanderbilt Hospital and pronounced dead.
Police said Matt Barker flew back to Nashville late Wednesday. They said the Barkers have been fully cooperative with the ongoing investigation.
The girl had been in the vehicle for roughly ten hours. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures climbed to 89 degrees that day.
Janette Fennel, founder of kidsandcars.org, shared tips for preventing accidents like this with WSMV.
“Keep a stuffed animal in your child’s car seat and when you put your child in the car seat put that up front in the passenger seat,” she said. “Put your cell phone, your bag, your employee badge or lunch or anything in the backseat that you’ll need to grab when you arrive at your destination.”
Fennel said Tennessee ranks eighth in child hot car deaths nationwide, with 30 incidents since 1990.”
It’s amazing that this dude will not even get a slap on the risk for leaving this child in the car all day. Why did he remember one child and not the other? This is horrendous and unacceptable. Little Katera needs justice ASAP!
We would love to know what you guys think about this. Did the Nashville authorities handle this correctly, or should there be a more thorough investigation against Matt and his wife?
I really think more investigation should most definitely go through for this couple. Seems like a racist hate crime murder if you ask me. Whites don’t charge their on when they harm blacks to much. Something must be done.
Insurance money
You folks have no clue. Matt and Jenny loved that baby. There is no racial issue here. It’s a busy hectic life and loving parents who forgot. Stop making everything about race!!!!!