Caregiver charged after man left alone in car dies

A Johnston County man called 911 to report that a man in his care had died and ended up with a charge for involuntary manslaughter.

Rogers Lee Inge Jr., 55, of Warrenton, N.C., told deputies that he was the caretaker for 25-year-old Dontarious Batts, who has special needs and was unable to care for himself. Inge said he was an employee of Universal Health Care and that he also worked as a janitor at Cleveland High School.

Inge told deputies he took Batts to work with him Tuesday at the high school and left him in the car, with the windows up and the engine off, beginning at 8 a.m. When Inge checked on Batts at 10 a.m., he said, Batts was fine.

Inge said he then returned to work, leaving Batts inside the vehicle until 4:17 p.m. When Inge returned to the vehicle, he told investigators, Batts was dead.

Inge then drove, with Batts’ body in the car, to a fire station on Cleveland Road in Clayton, calling 911 along the way. Deputies met Inge at the fire station and found Batts dead inside the vehicle. They charged him with involuntary manslaughter and took him into custody.

Maj. Jeff Caldwell of the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office said Batts would have an autopsy, but investigators suspect he died because of the heat in the car.

The temperature topped out in the Triangle Tuesday at 81 degrees. When it is 80 degrees out, the temperature inside a car can reach 109 degrees within 20 minutes, and 123 degrees within 60 minutes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The National Weather Service says that a car’s glass can act like a greenhouse, trapping deadly heat inside, even when outside temperatures are moderate.

Inge was taken to the Johnston County jail where he was held under $35,000 bond. As of Wednesday, he was no longer an employee of Johnston County Public Schools.

Batts’ family started a GoFundMe to cover his funeral expenses.