Toddler dies after being left in hot car

Bianca Prieto | Sentinel Staff Writer
September 5, 2007
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A toddler died Tuesday after being left unattended in a hot car parked at Ocoee City Hall, police said.

Officers think the 22-month-old girl was in the car for about three hours in temperatures that could have reached as high as 120 degrees, Ocoee Detective James Berish said.

Details were limited, but police said the child's mother, a city worker, was supposed to take her daughter to a day-care center on her way to work. The child's father normally takes the child to day care, but he was out of town.

Instead, the woman followed her routine and drove to City Hall on North Lakeshore Drive, forgetting the child, who was strapped in a safety seat behind her, Berish said.

When the mother returned to her vehicle around lunchtime, she found the youngster inside, passed out, police said.

She brought the child into the building, where co-workers helped cool the girl and called for emergency help.

The child still had vital signs when removed from the car but was pronounced dead later at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando.

Police did not release the identities of those involved, pending notification of family members.

The woman, who has four children, was not arrested or charged.

Police are investigating and will forward their findings to the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office, which will determine what action to take, Berish said.

"Until we get the big picture, there is no way to tell," Berish said. "She's very distraught."

Under a new Florida law that took effect July 1, anyone who leaves a child younger than 6 years old alone in a car for more than 15 minutes without the engine running can be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor.

If the child is injured, the adult can be charged with a third-degree felony, which is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Between 1998 and June 2007, 331 children younger than 13 died after being left in a hot car, at least 35 of them in Florida. The average age was 21 months old, according to the Department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University.

The Associated Press, which analyzed hot-car fatalities since the 1990s, reported this summer that July is the deadliest month, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total.

Some of these children crawled into cars or trunks on their own, but most were left to die by a caregiver. Most often, the caregivers said they simply forgot the child was inside the vehicle.

In one highly publicized case in August 2001, a 2-year-old Volusia County girl died after being left in a day-care van after a field trip to a park.

Rescue officials estimated the temperature in the van was 125 degrees.

Wire services were used in this report. Bianca Prieto can be reached at bprieto@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5620.