NYC school librarian arrested after leaving 1-year-old daughter in hot car for nearly six hours – colleague smashes rear window to save baby
- Michael Dodes, 41, left the child in his Subaru Forester on Thursday while working at Walter J. Damrosch School on Jennings Street in the Bronx
- Another employee saw the baby in the car and smashed the rear passenger window to get her out, police say
- Dodes was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child
A New York school librarian has been arrested after leaving his one-year-old daughter alone in a parked car for nearly six hours before his colleague broke a window to save her.
Michael Dodes, 41, left the child in his Subaru Forester on Thursday while working at Walter J. Damrosch School on Jennings Street in the Bronx.
Another employee saw the baby in the car and smashed the rear passenger window to get her out, police said.
She was taken to Bronx Lebanon Hospital for evaluation and was found to have non-life threatening injuries.
Dodes was arrested around 2:45 p.m. that day and charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
A New York school librarian has been arrested after leaving his one-year-old daughter alone in a parked car for nearly six hours before his colleague broke a window to save her.
Michael Dodes, 41, left the child in his Subaru Forester on Thursday while working at Walter J. Damrosch School on Jennings Street in the Bronx
“On Thursday, August 10, 2023, at 2:48 p.m., the following New York City service employee was arrested and charged at the 42nd Precinct,” a New York Police Department spokesperson said.
Dodes, who is married with two children, reportedly worked as a newly hired librarian at Walter J. Damrosch School, but officials said he was scheduled to start next month.
“We salute the heroism of the school staff member who took action to remove this child from danger,” a spokesperson for the city’s schools said.
“Upon learning of this incident, the school immediately contacted NYPD and EMS who responded to the scene. This employee is being reassigned away from the students.
Dodes is a current employee of the New York City Department of Education. His LinkedIn page revealed that he worked as a library co-ordinator for the Queens Office of School Library Service from 2017.
Prior to that, he worked as a library coordinator for North Brooklyn.
Dodes was arrested around 2.45pm that day and charged with endangering the welfare of a child
He was a library media specialist, working with students with special needs in the Bronx and Harlem for over nine years until 2016.
A profile of Dodes on the New York City School Tech Summit in 2021 said: ‘Michael has expertise in coding, instructional technology, copyright and licensing laws, and accessibility, on which he leads extensive professional development.
‘Michael was a school librarian in the Bronx and Harlem for 10 years before joining the Library Services team. He has expertise in copyright, privacy, digital and physical accessibility, coding, web/graphics and game design.
Dailymail.com has contacted the Walter J. Damrosch School for comment.
