The incident comes less than a week after a three-year-old San Antonio PreK student was found to have a loaded gun in their backpack. Credit: Shutterstock / Schmidt_Alex

A Bexar County deputy was arrested and fired from his job for leaving his 2-month-old baby alone inside a vehicle for three hours, according to local authorities.

The child remains in the hospital in critical condition after being discovered inside the vehicle Monday afternoon, according to a statement from the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.

Former deputy Antonio Almaraz, 31, now faces charges of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury-reckless, endangering a child and abandoning a child with intent to return, all felonies, BCSO officials said. His bond was set at $80,000, according to the statement.

Almaraz took his baby to a pediatric appointment Monday morning and returned home around 10 a.m., according to BCSO’s statement. Someone discovered the unresponsive child in the vehicle at approximately 1 p.m., officials said.

“Given the amount of awareness in the community regarding leaving children unattended in vehicles, there is absolutely no valid excuse for this to have occurred,” Sheriff Javier Salazar said in the statement. “My family and I are praying for the best possible outcome for this precious baby.”

BSCO officials said Almaraz gave conflicting statements about what transpired.

Almaraz can’t appeal his probationary dismissal and isn’t eligible for rehire regardless of the outcome of his criminal case, according to BCSO.

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This article appears in Sep 6-19, 2023.

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...