Toddler who died in dad's hot SUV 'had been switched out of his new forward-facing car seat and put in old rear-facing one even though it was too small'
- Justin Ross Harris is accused of leaving his 22-month-old son Cooper to die in a scorching hot SUV on June 18
- The toddler was in a rear-facing seat rather than a forward-facing one, which would have made it easier for Harris to see his son
- Wife Leanna hasn't been charged but there are growing suspicions over her odd behavior in the wake of her son's death
- Police previously disclosed that the parents had researched children dying in hot cars online
Baby Cooper was put in rear-facing seat even though it was too small
Cooper Harris was found dead in his rear-facing car seat in a parking lot in Cobb County, Georgia on June 18 - after sweltering inside for more than seven hours.www.dailymail.co.uk
Much of this is old and now known to be false. Seems the police weren't above planting a little BS in the early days of the investigation, before the trial.
Leanna explained at trial why Cooper was using the rear-facing seat on the day of the incident and why she decided to keep using it along with the front-facing one that was in her car at the time because of a recent long road trip. Bottom line, in her opinion she thought Cooper was still small enough to use it, although she knew it would have to be replaced soon.
There was never any credible evidence that Leanna plotted murder with Harris. She was never charged, and it seems wildly improbable to me that two parents with no history of child abuse would just up and plan a torture murder of their toddler. One, perhaps. Two? Nah.
Neither parent "researched" hot car deaths. Harris watched something that came up on a YouTube feed about not leaving dogs in cars in the summer for any length of time. He didn't search for it. Leanna explained at trial that she there was a local media campaign about looking in the backseat before you walk away (this was confirmed) and she worried about Ross forgetting Cooper because she found him at times to be very absent-minded.
In other words, fake news.