A 4-year-old boy died Saturday after authorities say his father left him in his vehicle for several hours while he worked in St. Paul’s Lowertown area. Kristopher Alexander Taylor, 26, ran into Regions Hospital carrying his son, Riley Taylor, at 5:35 p.m. Saturday seeking medical attention for the boy after he discovered him unresponsive inside his Dodge Journey, according to the second-degree manslaughter charge filed Monday in Ramsey County District Court. Medical staff pronounced the boy dead. The outside temperature was about 70 degrees when Riley was found and, while additional testing is underway, the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office determined his probable cause of death was hyperthermia. Police said Taylor was working for a vendor for GrillFest, which rented out CHS Field for Saturday and Sunday. Taylor initially told officers he brought his son into the park with him at the beginning of his shift and only returned the boy to the vehicle around 2:45 p.m. because his son was tired. He said he placed his son in the car at that time with a blanket and a game and cracked the window before returning back to work, according to the criminal complaint. When he returned about three hours later, he said he found his son “stiff” and rushed him to the hospital. Officers later interviewed some of Taylor’s co-workers, who told them Taylor never left during his work shift, according to the complaint. The boy’s mother told police Taylor picked their son up around 2:30 a.m. Saturday because she had to go to work early that morning, according to the complaint. She said their son was fine at the time. The information prompted authorities to interview Taylor a second time. That’s when Taylor admitted that he left his son in the car during his entire shift, which began about 11:30 a.m. Saturday and ended shortly after 5 p.m., the complaint said. COULDN’T FIND ANYONE TO WATCH SON Taylor told police he couldn’t find anyone to watch his son while he worked so he brought him along and left him in the car, charges say. People under age 21 were not allowed into GrillFest, but organizers were “not aware that a child was anywhere near CHS Field,” said Katie Hickman, marketing and public relations manager for Greenspring Media, which owns GrillFest. Taylor told police he didn’t think it was that hot out at the time, adding that he’d done it once before about a year ago and that “nothing bad happened on that occasion.” He acknowledged in that instance he left the window all the way down, charges say. Taylor’s vehicle was parked in an area “entirely exposed to the sun,” according to the complaint. Medical staff found no signs of trauma on Riley’s body, but noted signs of decomposition after being exposed to the heat for several hours. Taylor doted on his son in a Facebook post when the boy turned 4 last August, writing he was “blessed with an unstoppable bundle of happiness and joy that this little guy brings to the world everyday. … (H)e shows me the thrill and joy of being a father to guide him through life.” After Riley’s death on Saturday, police arrested Taylor and he was booked into the Ramsey County jail. He has no criminal convictions on his record, according to Minnesota court records. Taylor was denied a public defender at his first court appearance Monday afternoon. His bail was also set at the hearing at $25,000. His next hearing is scheduled for May 10. GrillFest is not releasing information about which vendor Taylor was working for. The situation “came to light after the event,” Hickman said. “At this point, our condolences are with the family and assisting with the ongoing investigation.” CARS BECOME ‘LIKE A GREENHOUSE’ A national nonprofit, KidsAndCars.org, says 2018 was the worst on record nationally for children dying in hot cars — there were 52 instances, according to Janette Fennell, the organization’s president and founder. Riley’s death is the fifth this year of a child who suffered heatstroke after being left in a vehicle in the United States, Fennell said. Five children died in hot vehicles in Minnesota between 2001 and 2013. The inside of a vehicle heats up very quickly and children have died in cars when the outside temperature was in the 50s, Fennell said. Based on Saturday’s outside temperature in St. Paul, the temperature in the vehicle could have reached 110 degrees, depending on various factors, Fennell said. “People need to understand that a car is like a greenhouse and the temperature goes up very quickly,” she said. Related Articles St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter delivers 2021 ‘State of Our City’ address Train Days on track to return to St. Paul Union Depot St. Paul mayor appears to prevail in fight over Alatus development project St. Paul beats Minneapolis in annual parks ranking, but both cities show uneven access based on race, income Free tours of St. Paul’s Rice Park neighborhood and Mississippi riverfront start in June Cracking a car’s windows open doesn’t stop the inside of the car from reaching maximum temperature either, Fennell said. In 55 to 60 percent of instances of fatalities in hot cars, they happened because a parent or caregiver forgot the child in the car, according to KidsAndCars.org. At least 13 percent of children are knowingly left in vehicles, but it’s “rare to almost never that someone does this purposely to harm a child,” Fennell said.<doc-sep>A 4-year-old boy has died after he was left to nap in a car in St. Paul on Saturday, and his father has been charged with second-degree manslaughter. The boy, identified as Riley Taylor, was taken to a hospital by his father, Kristopher Taylor, 26, of Apple Valley, who had left him for more than 2 hours in a parking lot that was "entirely exposed to the sun." A criminal complaint states that Taylor had brought his son to Minnesota Monthly Grillfest at CHS Field, where he was working for a vendor, but had taken him back to the car when he grew tired. Taylor told police he'd cracked a window "1/2 or 1/4 of an inch" and left his son with a blanket and a game to entertain himself. Although he initially told police he'd taken him to the car at around 2:45 p.m., Taylor later said the last time he checked on his son was 11:30 a.m., while two of his co-workers said he never left during his shift. When he returned to their car around 5:15 p.m., his son was unresponsive, had no pulse, and was "stiff." Taylor rushed him to Regions Hospital, where medical staff initially thought he was having a seizure and attempted to revive him with anti-seizure medication. It didn't work, and he was pronounced dead. A medical examiner ruled that he died from probable hyperthermia, a condition that results in abnormally high body temperature. The boy's mother said Taylor had picked up their son around 2:30 a.m. so she could go to her early morning job. Kristopher Taylor. Ramsey County Jail Speaking with police, Taylor said he couldn't find anyone to watch his son, and had to take him to work for the entirety of his shift. He also said he didn't think it was that hot, and that he'd done it in the past and "nothing bad happened," albeit on that occasion he left the window entirely down. The air temperature was around 70 degrees in St. Paul on Saturday. Speaking to the Pioneer Press, the president of KidsAndCars.org said that when the outdoor temperature is at 70 degrees, the inside of a vehicle can reach up to 110 degrees.<doc-sep>
Police say Kristopher Taylor told them he took the boy to his vehicle parked near CHS Field, where he cracked a window and left the boy with a game to entertain himself. ST PAUL, Minn. — An Apple Valley man is charged with manslaughter after authorities say he left his 4-year-old son in a car, resulting in his death. A criminal complaint filed Monday in Ramsey County District Court says 26-year-old Kristopher Alexander Taylor ran into Regions Hospital just after 5 p.m. Saturday carrying his son in his arms and frantically asking for help. Witnesses told investigators the boy appeared unresponsive, and ER staff immediately began lifesaving efforts. Unfortunately they were unable to revive the child and he was pronounced dead on arrival. When an off-duty officer approached Taylor and asked what happened, he asked to go to his vehicle to get something and the officer accompanied him. The officer noticed the inside of the defendant's 2017 Journey seemed extremely hot as Taylor grabbed some items from inside. When questioned inside the ER Taylor told police he had gone to work GrillFest at CHS Field in Lowertown around 11:30 a.m., and said at approximately 2:45 p.m., the boy said he was tired and wanted to sit in the car. Taylor said he took the boy to the vehicle where he cracked a window and left the boy with a game to entertain himself. Taylor told investigators he returned to the Journey around 5:15 p.m. and noticed his son was unresponsive. He said he yelled the boy’s name and tried to shake his son, but the child was “stiff.” The child's mother arrived at the hospital and told police that Taylor had picked their son up around 2:30 a.m. so she could go to work at her early morning job, and that her son was fine when Taylor picked him up. At that point Kristopher Taylor was arrested. An investigators spoke with two of Taylor's co-workers, who told them the defendant did not leave during his shift as he claimed. When confronted with this information police say Taylor admitted he left the boy inside the vehicle for his entire shift as he couldn't find anyone to watch his son while he worked. He told detectives he didn't think it was that hot out, and that he had left the boy inside a vehicle before, albeit with one window completely down. Police say the lot where Taylor parked the vehicle that day is entirely exposed to the sun. Saturday reached a high of 70 degrees. An autopsy on the child showed no trauma, but examiners say his body was already showing signs of decomposition and listed the cause of death as hyperthermia, which is the condition of having a body temperature greatly above normal. If convicted of second degree manslaughter Kristopher Taylor faces a potential 10 years in prison. The national child safety advocacy group Kids and Cars says Minnesota ranks number 37 in the nation based on the number of child hot car deaths, with five fatalities from 2001-2013. The organizations say last year was nationally the worst year in history for child hot car deaths with a total of 52 children that died.