Stephens County Man Cited for Leaving Child in Hot Car

By Charlie Bauder, WNEG Radio, Toccoa

A Stephens County man is charged after authorities say he left his child in a vehicle while he went inside an area business last month.

According to Toccoa Police Chief Tim Jarrell, it happened July 7 when police were called to the Big A Road branch of Oconee Federal.

When Officer Brawner arrived, he made with Benjamin Lee Kellar,” said Jarrell. “Mr. Kellar was inside the bank and had left a child in the vehicle. When other officers arrived, they removed the child from the vehicle. The child was crying, perspiring heavily. They called EMS and had the child taken to Stephens County Hospital where he was evaluated.”

Jarrell said police charged 35-year-old Benjamin Lee Kellar of Mize Road in Toccoa with one count of First Degree Cruelty to Children.

He said police do not know exactly how long the child was left unattended in the back seat of the vehicle.

Police were called to the scene just before 3:30 p.m. and temperatures that day in downtown Toccoa reached the mid to upper 80s.

Regardless, Jarrell said the situation was a very dangerous one for the child.

“With the temperatures outside being as hot as they are and the humidity as it is, it is intensified inside a vehicle,” said Jarrell. “Everyone needs to be mindful of how hot it can get inside a vehicle. This is a serious incident and we are treating it as such.”

Jarrell said the child, whose age is listed by police as one year old, was checked and treated for dehydration at the hospital.

He said that DFACS then returned the child to his mother.