Police have laid charges against the father of a three-year-old Ontario boy who died after being left in a hot car last week.
Halton regional police say 37-year-old Shaun Pennell of Burlington, faces one count of criminal negligence causing death and one count of failing to provide the necessaries of life.
Police have said officers got a call on May 23 from a ``hysterical'' man, indicating that a child was in a vehicle and was not breathing.
They said the boy was outside a grey Ford Escape when emergency crews arrived and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
Police said last week that an autopsy revealed that the ``preliminary cause of death'' was hyperthermia, consistent with the child being left in a vehicle and exposed to high temperatures for an extended period of time.
Data from The Weather Network indicates temperatures reached 26 C in Burlington that day. Studies have shown the temperature inside a closed vehicle can rise above 45 C, sufficient to cause heat stroke.
Police said Wednesday that Pennell was released from custody on a promise to appear in a Milton, court on June 27.
They say the family is requesting privacy.