Socorro Toddler Dies, Father Charged With Felony

A father in Socorro is being charged with a first degree felony after neighbors say his 2 year old son was left in a hot car for several hours.

Manuel Malique Armendariz died Friday evening. According to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, the toddler was discovered unresponsive inside a car.

“I still can’t believe what happened to him. He was a good little boy,” said neighbor Andy Cera. He lives across from the Armendariz family at the Mi Casita Mobile Home Park on Alameda Avenue.

A relative who contacted ABC-7 said the boy’s father, 25 year old Emmanuel Armendariz, had left the boy inside a hot car for several hours. Emmanuel Armendariz was arrested late Friday night and charged with injury to a child resulting in death– a first degree felony. Armendariz is now out on bond.

“The windows were all rolled up in the sun. Imagine a little boy, barely two years old,” said Cera, himself a father of three.

Cera’s wife, Griselda Medina, said she heard the little boy was trapped for 3 hours or more. “When the father opened the door, he fell down. The little boy was already dead,” she said. It is not clear exactly how long the child was left inside the car.

Socorro police officers and rescuers were called out to the trailer park at around 6 PM Friday.

“They tried to revive him, but it didn’t work,” said neighbor Simon Rubio.

Despite Armendariz’s arrest, several neighbors said he seemed like a good father.

“He was an excellent dad, he was always playing with his little son,” said Cera.

Outside the family’s home, a senior investigator with the Department of Family and Protective Services had left his card with a handwritten request for a phone call.

As neighborhood kids continued to play feet from where little Malique died, their parents expressed shock and disbelief. “I would say ‘Why, God, why? Why my little son?” said Cera.