Toddler died in hot truck as dad got haircut and drank beer at bar, FL cops say

A toddler left alone for hours in a sweltering truck likely died with a body temperature of 111 degrees, according to Florida investigators.

The boy’s 33-year-old father, Scott Allen Gardner, was arrested June 19 and charged with “aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect causing great bodily harm,” the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

“Gardner is responsible for the death of his 18-month-old son Sebastian, who was left helpless in a hot truck for more than 3 hours … while Gardner got a haircut and then went drinking inside Hanky Panky’s Lounge,” the sheriff’s office reports.

It happened Friday, June 6, in Ormond Beach, and “Gardner gave multiple false accounts of what occurred that day,” deputies said.

Temperatures in Ormond Beach hit 92 degrees that day, AccuWeather reports. The interior of the truck could have reached 130 degrees within an hour, according to calculations by the National Weather Service.

“It was estimated by medical personnel that Sebastian’s body temperature reached 111 degrees during this tragedy,” the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators say the haircut started at 11:30 a.m., then Gardner walked next door to the bar at noon, according to news conference. Gardner stayed at the bar until around 2:40 p.m., drinking “beer and shots,” officials said.

He then returned to his truck, drove to his mother’s house and made a 911 call reporting the boy was “not breathing” at 2:44 p.m., officials said.

An Ormond Beach police officer arrived at the home at 2:49 p.m. and reported being unable to perform CPR due to the boy being in rigor mortis, Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood said during the news conference. The condition involves a stiffening of the muscles and is associated with “the third stage after death,” according to MedicineNet.com.

The boy was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead around 3:30 p.m., and an examination revealed his internal temperature was 107.8 degrees, officials said. Investigators believe he died one to two hours before the 911 call was made, officials said.

“Baby’s dead, investigation is going on, what does (Gardner) do? He picks up his mother and they go back to Hanky Panky’s for a few more cocktails and they’re there until almost midnight,” Chitwood said.

Gardner, who is separated from the boy’s mother, told investigators he left the windows down in the truck and had a small fan running during the time he was in the bar, officials said.

Ormond Beach is about a 60-mile drive northeast from Orlando.

This story was originally published June 20, 2025 at 12:48 PM with the headline "Toddler died in hot truck as dad got haircut and drank beer at bar, FL cops say."