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911 audio: South Euclid man charged for leaving 9-year-old with autism in hot car

The boy was left inside a hot car for 20 minutes.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS -- Police arrested and charged a South Euclid man after he left a 9-year-old boy with autism inside a car during 90 degree weather Monday.

According to a police report, 65-year-old Paul Bayer left his girlfriend's son inside his Nissan Altima outside the Home Depot at 3460 Mayfield Road.

A man called police when he pulled into a parking space to the right of the Nissan and spotted the boy alone in the car. He said the windows were up and the car was not running as it sat in direct sunlight. He also told police the boy appeared to be agitated and possibly sick or unconscious.

In the 911 call, the man told dispatch the boy was "slobbering at the mouth." Listen to the full 911 call in the video player below.

The man said when the boy woke up, he struggled to open the door. The man tried the rear driver's side door and found it unlocked. When officers arrived, the door had been opened and the boy was sitting inside the car "extremely flushed" with sweaty hair.

As police spoke with the boy, Bayer came running from the store and told officers he "forgot" that the boy was in the car.

The boy had been in the vehicle for about 20 minutes, according to the report. His mother arrived to the scene and took custody of him.

The report also states that Bayer became very flushed and in need of water while speaking with officers in the backseat of an air conditioned police cruiser.

Bayer faces charges of endangering children. Court records show that Bayer is a bankruptcy attorney with offices in Woodmere. When we reached Bayer and the boy's mother at his Cleveland Heights home, neither had any comment.

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