A New Jersey dad who’d just robbed a Walmart is accused of crashing his car and leaving his two-year-old son to die on the street while he ran to get away, reports said.
Christopher Kuhn, 27, of Hamilton, N.J. is being held on a $5 million bond for a slew of charges, including murder, homicide by vehicle and retail theft, WPVI reported.
Police say Kuhn stole $228 worth of speakers from a Levittown, Penn., Walmart on Tuesday and in the race to flee the scene, he failed to buckle his son Qadan into the seat, the outlet said. Instead, he used the time to cover his license plate with a sweater.
After Kuhn tore out of the parking lot, he ran a red light and crashed into two other cars, causing his son to be flung from the vehicle and onto the road. Instead of rushing to his aid, he ran away from the scene.
“It was more important for Mr. Kuhn to attempt to get away from a misdemeanor retail theft by covering his license plate with his sweatshirt than it was to properly secure his two- year-old son in his car seat before fleeing at a high rate of speed,” Bob James, of the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, told WPVI.
The car flipped on impact and rammed another car in the opposite direction.
“I saw it when the baby flew, and I saw Kuhn run away,” Fernando Medrano, one of the other motorists in the accident, told Action News.
“I just can’t believe he ran away.”
A family friend with strong ties to the father said this will be a moment Kuhn will never forget.
“I can tell you right now that he is in his own private hell, and he is going to suffer and hold on to this for the rest of his life,” Diana Williams said.
“Nobody knows what was going through his mind. Not to excuse what he did, but he has a lot of problems. He had a lot of things going on in his mind.”
Kuhn allegedly bit, strangled and threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend back in 2016 while she was holding their 9-month-old child, The Trentonian reported. It’s unclear if Qadan was that child.
Kuhn was captured after a brief foot chase and baby Qadan was brought to an area hospital but died shortly after.
“It’s unreal,” District Attorney James said, according to Fox.
“How can a dad choose even his own freedom over the health and safety and welfare of his own kid.”