Man with Special Needs Tragically Dies After Being Left in Hot Car by Caretaker, Police Report

It is said that a man with special needs in North Carolina died after being left alone in a hot car for hours by his helper.

The matter was reported to the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday, August 20, at 4:43 p.m., as reported by CBS 17.

Dontarious Batts, a patient who is thought to be in his early to mid-20s, has been named as the victim.

The news station said that Johnston County 911 Communications got a call from a man, later named 55-year-old Rogers Lee Inge Jr., who said he was responsible for the death of a person in his care who had been left in his car.

During the call, the dispatcher told Inge to stop at the Clayton Fire Department at 9039 Cleveland Road, where he would be met by EMS, fire crews, and JCSO officers.

Universal Health Care worker Inge took care of Batts. He is said to have told officers that he brought Batts to work with him earlier that day at his second job as a janitor at Cleveland High School, WRAL reported.

Police say he told them he left Batts in the car with the windows up and the engine off at 8 a.m. and that he checked on him around 10 a.m. and found that Batts seemed fine.

WRAL says that when Inge got back to his car around 4:17 p.m. after finishing his work day at Cleveland High School, Batts had already died.

WRAL got 911 tape that showed an “emotionally upset” Inge said, “It’s my fault.”

“Today didn’t seem that hot to me.” I forgot to check on him. I forgot. “I was working,” he allegedly said next.

The First Alert Weather Team on ABC 11 said that day it was 81 degrees in the area. The news station also talked about the National Weather Service, which said that the temperature inside a car sitting in the sun can be up to 50 degrees higher than the temperature outside.

Tierra Blackston and Tiquana Bradberry made a GoFundMe page in Batts’ name after the event.

The first line of their message said, “We are heartbroken by the sudden and unexpected death of our little brother Donte.”

Writing this hurts so much that words can’t describe it. It all still seems so unreal. “My autistic and nonverbal brother Dontarius Batts (Donte) was left in a hot car with the windows up and the engine off by his caretaker from 8 a.m. to just after 4 p.m. on August 20, 2024,” the siblings said.

As of Thursday, August 22, Blackston and Bradberry had raised more than $2,500 on GoFundMe as planned.

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