Girl, 2, Dies in Hot Car After Dad Says He Was Distracted by Video Games 'No More Than 30, 45 Minutes': Cop Body Cam Footage

Newly released body cam footage shows the Arizona father who allegedly left his young daughter to die in a hot car while he played video games became defensive with police, saying, “So I’m being treated like a murderer?”

On July 9, police responded to the Marana home of 37-year-old Christopher Scholtes and found his 2-year-old daughter, Parker, clinging to life in his family car.

In court documents obtained by the New York Post, Scholtes claimed he got home and didn’t want to wake his daughter, who was sleeping in the car, so he left the car running and the air conditioner on for around a half hour.

When police said the home might be a crime scene, Scholtes raises his voice, saying, “So I’m being treated like a murderer?” according to the body cam footage obtained by Inside Edition.

While police were trying to save Parker, Scholtes looked distressed, as he held his head in his hands and paced around the home, the video shows.

He pleads, “Please, baby, please,” at one point and then later, while speaking on the phone, he says, “I can’t believe this.”

Parker’s mother, an anesthesiologist, discovered her daughter in critical condition in the car with the AC off when she came home around 4 p.m.

In the footage, Scholtes tells police he only left the toddler outside for “no more than 30, 45 minutes” and he was checking on her throughout.

However, court documents allege he left her in the hot car for over three hours while he was inside. He told police, according to officials, that "he got distracted by playing his (video) game and putting his food away.”

According to police, in a text message after the incident, his wife, Erika Scholtes, allegedly wrote, “I told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you?”

According to a criminal complaint, the father's two other children told police that he regularly left them outside in the car. His 16-year-old daughter from a previous marriage claimed he frequently left her alone inside cars without food for hours at a time, even to the point where Child Protective Services took her away from him, KVOA-TV reported.

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Scholtes was arrested and has been charged with first-degree murder, authorities said.

He has pleaded not guilty.

His wife asked the judge on the case to release him to come home to his family so they could “start the grieving process” together. She added, “This was a big mistake doesn’t represent him.”