Pair arrested after infant left in hot car is admitted to the hospital in critical condition

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Nicole Michelle Buchmiller, 40, and James Michael Tompkins, 44, were arrested yesterday after allegedly leaving their infant in a hot car for two hours; the infant was reportedly admitted to a hospital in critical condition.

At about 5:29 p.m. on August 28, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responded with EMS personnel to the Palms of Archer Mobile Home Park after a call about a one-month-old infant who had been left unattended in a car for over two hours and was gasping for air.

The deputy reported that when he arrived, the child was struggling to breathe, and the child was transported to the hospital with a rectal temperature of 104 degrees. The deputy reported that medical personnel were able to reduce the child’s internal temperature, but they had to intubate the child, who was considered to be in critical condition at the time the report was written.

The deputy’s investigation found that Buchmiller took the infant with her when she went to pick up two other children from school, and she returned at 3:15 p.m. Tompkins was reportedly playing video games when the others came home, and he reportedly said he heard them come in, but he did not actually see them. He said he assumed that Buchmiller had brought the infant inside with her.

At about 5:26 p.m., Tompkins said, Buchmiller asked him where the baby was, and he said he thought Buchmiller had her. They checked the baby’s bedroom, then checked the car, where they found the infant struggling to breathe and hot to the touch; Buchmiller immediately called 911. Tompkins reportedly said this was a “freak occurrence” that had never happened before and that both of the adults were struggling with a chronic lack of sleep. Tompkins also reportedly said the infant had been in a Neonatal ICU for the first three weeks after her birth.

A deputy spoke with Buchmiller at the hospital, and she reportedly said that when she got home from picking up the other children from school, she hurried inside to get back to work. Around 5:20 p.m., when she finished work, she thought it was odd that the baby had been so quiet, so she asked Tompkins if the baby was sleeping. When he said he thought she had the baby, she realized she had left the baby in the car and went to get her; when she found the baby “gasping for air,” she called 911.

The deputy noted that the infant’s stay in the ICU “indicated that the child required more attention than an average newborn” and that the adults “should reasonably be more attentive and responsible.” The report concluded, “Neither [Buchmiller or Tompkins] gave a reasonable explanation that would have absolved them of the negligence, and the sheer severity of the circumstances clearly arose to a criminal level.”

Buchmiller has been charged with child neglect with great bodily harm and leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle with great bodily harm. She has no local criminal history and has been released from the jail.

Tompkins has been charged with child neglect with great bodily harm. He has no local criminal history and has been released from the jail.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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