South Carolina Father Gets 28 Years for Fleeing Police, Leaving Daughter to Die in Burning Car

A South Carolina father will spend the next 28 years in prison after leaving his young daughter inside a burning car while he ran from the police.

Imhotep O. Norman of Spartanburg learned his fate on Tuesday for the April 12th, 2019 death of his 19-month-old daughter Xena Norman. On that fateful day, the now 28-year-old was driving 67 mph in a 45-mph area. When police tried to perform a traffic stop, Norman drove his 2015 Hyundai Sonata over the median on Highway 14 and onto I-85. The officers pursued him and realized that his car was on fire, though it is unclear what caused it. The man eventually pulled over and jumped out of the vehicle, which was becoming engulfed in flames. He tossed a backpack full of drugs out of the car and then fled into a wooded area. When emergency personnel extinguished the blaze, they found the body of Xena. An autopsy determined that she died of acute carbon monoxide poisoning and thermal burns. Imhotep was arrested hours later. He confessed to police that he thought responding officers would rescue his baby.

At a 2019 bond hearing, Imhotep maintained that he couldn’t stop the car due to sparks under the tires. He also claimed that the vehicle was not on fire when he abandoned his daughter inside of it.

“I just know that the car wasn’t on fire when I got out the car. I would have stayed in that car with my daughter,” he told the judge at that time.

Imhotep pleaded guilty of homicide by child abuse, failure to stop for blue lights and sirens, and several drug possession charges. He will be required to serve at least 85% of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.