Michael Clohessy is seen on bodycam footage during his arrest on May 26 (Albuquerque Police Department).
A Colorado man was charged with child abuse after he allegedly left his 6-year-old son in a hot, locked car while he went shopping at New Mexico Walmart.
The Albuquerque Police Department released bodycam footage of the arrest of Michael Clohessy, 45, which was shared with local CBS affiliate KRQE. According to a criminal complaint obtained by the outlet, Clohessy was caught on surveillance cameras while he entered a Walmart store on Monday by himself. The complaint stated that the boy remained in the back seat of the car. The outside temperature that day reportedly hit 80 degrees.
Police said that the boy was red in the face when they found him in the car.
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According to the complaint, Clohessy told police that he had been in the store for about 15 minutes. Police believed he was gone for closer to 20 minutes.
In the body camera footage, a police officer can be heard clarifying the details of Clohessy’s alleged actions, including the fact that he did not know it was against the law to leave a child unattended in a vehicle. The officer can be heard asking Clohessy if he had knowledge of a 1-year-old baby who died in a hot car in the area just a day before, and he confirmed that he did.
“There’s a kid that died yesterday,” Clohessy said. “A 1-year-old. I understand. A 1-year-old’s a big difference.”
“A child’s a child,” the officer responded.
“There’s a big difference between a 1-year-old,” Clohessy said, seemingly refuting the comparison between the 1-year-old victim to his 6-year-old child.
The officer replied, “No, sir.”
Also brought up by the officer was the fact that Clohessy allegedly locked the child in the car and took his car keys with him. According to the complaint — and the officer in the video — Clohessy’s explanation for his alleged actions was, “It’s Albuquerque.” The officer said that this indicated that the father knew there was a “level of danger in this city that needs to be addressed.”
Clohessy was booked into Bernalillo County’s Metropolitan Detention Center on one count of open child abuse. He was released from custody on Thursday.
