Christopher Scholtes told police officers his daughter, Parker, was asleep in the car and he did not want to wake her so he left the engine running and the air conditioning on.
Police bodycam footage of the moment officers arrived at a home where a 2-year-old girl was found unresponsive after her father left her in a hot car has been exclusively obtained by Inside Edition.
Video shows first responders trying to save the 2-year-old.
The father, Christopher Scholtes, could be seen holding his head, appearing to be distraught.
Scholtes told police officers his daughter, Parker, was asleep in the car and he did not want to wake her so he left the engine running and the air conditioning on.
Parker's mother, a doctor, came home to find the car off and with no air conditioning.
When police asked Scholtes how long Parker at been sleeping in the car, he said, "I want to say it was no more than 30, 45 minutes and I don't think the air was off that entire time. I think there was a time in between. I had checked on her last, it was still running, she was still sleeping and then when I went back out the car was off."
First responders told the father of his daughter's condition.
"She's very hot right now. We're going to do everything we can," they told Scholtes.
Scholtes buried his head in his hands and started crying.
A police officer told Scholtes they had to treat the home as a possible crime scene.
"So I'm being treated like a murderer," Scholtes asked. The officer said no.
Parker did not make it.
Three days later, police returned to the home and arrested Scholtes. He fell to his knees when he was told he was being detained.
Police in Marana, Arizona, say Scholtes allegedly "got distracted by playing his [video] game and putting his food away." They said the toddler was in the car for more than three hours.
Scholtes appeared in court Thursday. He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
Scholtes' wife told the judge the tragedy was "a big mistake."
