No Charges Due in Car Fire That Hurt 3 Children

The Orange County district attorney’s office said Monday that no charges will be filed against a Fullerton mother who left her two children and a nephew unattended in a car that caught fire last week, seriously burning them.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David Himelson said that after careful consideration, no charges would be filed against Saydie Smith, 23, because “there is insufficient evidence to prove that a crime occurred.”

Smith said she left the children “for five or 10 minutes” in the car parked in the lot at Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana while she visited a sick friend.

The children who were burned are Smith’s 3-year-old son, Guillermo Clausell, who police said started the fire while playing with a butane cigarette lighter found in the car; Smith’s daughter, Natasha, 4, and her 20-month-old nephew, Rashim Bolder.

Santa Ana police had referred the investigation to the district attorney’s office for possible criminal prosecution of Smith on child-endangerment charges.

But the decision not to file charges was reached after an investigation turned up no past criminal history for Smith and after it was established that the lighter used by young Clausell did not belong to his mother, according to a source close to the investigation.

The children were pulled to safety by a hospital security guard and three maintenance workers who noticed the car on fire on Dec. 10.

The children remained in the burn ward at UCI Medical Center on Monday. Guillermo was reported in good condition in an intensive care unit, while his sister and cousin have been moved from intensive care to a pediatrics ward and were also listed in good condition.