Shocking police bodycam footage has captured the heartbreaking moment emergency workers desperately tried to save a two-year-old girl who was left in a scorching hot car by her father for three hours.
Christopher Scholtes, an Arizona father, can be seen holding his head in fear and screaming at police before falling to his knees in video footage obtained by Within edition.
“Please baby, please…” he can be heard begging in the video.
“I can’t believe it,” he was heard to moan. “Oh my God.”
Scholtes, 37, was indicted in court Thursday on a charge of first-degree murder by a grand jury after originally being arrested on a lesser charge of first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
Scholtes told police that when he got home, Parker (pictured together) was asleep in the backseat and he didn’t want to wake her up
His daughter was found unconscious in his car after he left her there while he was playing PlayStation games.
The terrifying video shows police and emergency workers desperately trying to revive the toddler.
Scholtes was arrested last month after his 2-year-old daughter Parker was found unresponsive in his car outside their home in Marana, Arizona, on a day when temperatures reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit.
Scholtes’ other children, ages five and nine, told police he had been playing video games all afternoon. Nearby surveillance cameras showed Parker may have been alone for more than three hours.
Parker in a family photo taken in March with her parents and two older sisters, who reportedly told police that Christopher often left them in the car with the air conditioning on
Scholtes told detectives that his daughter was asleep in the car and that, because he didn’t want to wake her, he left the engine running and the air conditioning on.
However, according to the police, Scholtes became distracted by playing his game and putting away his food.
On the day Parker died, July 6, Scholtes told police he arrived home around 2:30 p.m. and left his daughter in the car while she was sleeping. She was discovered by his wife when she returned home from work at 4 p.m.
However, Arizona detectives said they obtained surveillance footage from the area that showed Scholtes’ Honda Acura SUV had arrived there around 12:50 p.m.
The upgrade of the charge against Scholtes from second-degree murder to first-degree murder is telling and shows that prosecutors are convinced the father intentionally killed his daughter.
Christopher Scholtes appeared in court Thursday, where charges against him were upgraded from second-degree murder to first-degree murder in the death of his daughter
While second-degree murder is typically based on reckless conduct resulting in death, first-degree murder requires that the death was premeditated and intentional.
At his first court appearance on Thursday, Scholtes, dressed in a gray suit, appeared to hang his head in shame, but he remained silent as formal charges were filed against him.
He spoke only a few words in court and refused to speak to reporters after the hearing.