Thread: 36 Kids Killed in Hot Cars This Year

By MATT SLAGLE, Associated Press Writer

DALLAS - It happens with alarming frequency: A parent or day-care worker, often busy or distracted, leaves a helpless child in a vehicle with the windows rolled up, and the youngster dies in the heat.


So far this year, at least 36 children in the United States have died under similar circumstances.


In once such case last week, it was about 100 degrees in Dallas when 8-month-old Jordan Thomas was forgotten inside a day-care center's sport-utility vehicle. Inside, the temperature soared to a blistering 130 to 140 degrees.

Experts and advocacy groups say such deaths usually result from forgetfulness rather than any deliberate disregard for the child's safety.


"The screaming message here is that for any period of time, you don't leave a child unattended in a car," said Jan Null, an adjunct professor of meteorology at San Francisco State University who tracks such deaths.


The number of reported heat deaths is higher than ever, Null said, increasing from 25 when he first began recording figures from news reports and child advocacy groups in 1998. There were 31 in 1999, 28 in 2000 and 34 in 2001. He described the figures as conservative estimates, saying many cases probably go unreported.


What many people do not realize is just how quickly cars and trucks can become stifling death traps. Null said interior temperatures can soar to 105 in less than a half-hour on a 72-degree day. Cracking the windows only slows the heat buildup.


Janette Fennell, founder and president of the advocacy group Kids And Cars in Kansas City, Kan., said most cases of heat deaths involve either new parents or those who have recently changed their driving routine.


"The lion's share are loving, caring, devoted parents. We're talking educated people who love and adore their kids," Fennell said. "It says a little bit about the society we live in today. We're rushed, we're hurried; one little change can mean the difference between life and death."


Two weeks ago, a professor's 10-month-old son died after being locked in a car at the University of California at Irvine for more than three hours while temperatures were in the 90s. The youngster's father, Mark J. Warschauer, was described as a doting parent by neighbors. No immediate charges were filed.


Experts say a few simple precautions could drastically reduce such tragedies.


Fennell suggested placing reminders in the car, such as a bag of diapers in the front seat or a purse or briefcase in the back with the child.


"Put something that you have to have today in the back seat, where it's going to force to you check the back seat. Eventually, it becomes a habit," she said.


Fennell said fewer than 2 percent of such deaths result from people deliberately leaving a child in a car.


Last week, a mother from Springdale, Ark., was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter for allegedly leaving her 3-year-old daughter to die in a hot car. Police said they believe Mary Christina Cordell, 36, was playing an Internet game for two hours while her daughter was in the car.


And last year in suburban Detroit, a woman was charged with murder for leaving her two children, 10 months old and 3, to die inside her sweltering car in 100-degree heat while she had her hair and nails done and shopped for a dress. Tarajee Maynor, who is awaiting trial, initially told police that she had been abducted and raped and returned to her car to find her children.


According to the Web site of Fennell's group, nine states — California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington — make it illegal to leave a child alone in a vehicle. In California, for example, anyone caught leaving a child 7 or younger alone in a car can be fined $100.





Jordan died Wednesday after a driver for T&T Tots Day Care & Learning Center picked him up from his home in the morning but forgot to drop him off at the day-care center. That afternoon, the driver found him dead in a carrier seat toward the back of the vehicle. Police have not charged the unidentified driver.

Texas guidelines require constant supervision of children at day-care centers, Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services spokesman Geoffrey Wool said, adding that the centers must keep a list of all children during field trips and other outings involving vehicles.

Wool said he did not know if the driver in Jordan's case had such a list.

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On the Net:

Jan Null's Web Site: http://ggweather.com/heat/

Kids And Cars: http://kidsandcars.org

I have a habit of looking in cars as I go through a parking lot anywhere. I have been known to call 911 to report a child in a car alone.

What ticks me off is it seems like you get in more trouble for animal abuse/neglect than for doing something to your kids.

This is have of our uphill battle with dbf's ex! Heaven forbid they can't do anything about the kids, supposedly not enough evidence (lazy fools, look at the photos!) but the minute she neglects her animals they are taken away and she is facing jail time. Pathetic that we value animals over helpless babies.

I agree start charging the parents and then lets see how many parents suddenly start remembering!

Some parents are intended to leave their child(ren) in the car locked because they do the nails, have a hair cut, shopping... How sad!!!

This was on our news last night. The mother was very distraught. A pediatrician was on and she said when you are postpartum you can have memory problems and not be thinking straight. I thik new mothers need more help than they are getting.


Baby left in van is in state custody
The boy's father says that it was an accident and that the family is eager to get the baby back.
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

An 11-day-old Wichita boy was in protective custody Monday after his mother left him in a unair-conditioned minivan -- in 100-degree heat -- for about an hour.

The infant's father said his wife accidentally left the boy in the van in the East Kellogg Wal-Mart parking lot Sunday afternoon.

The 35-year-old woman went into the store to shop with her 15-year-old daughter, said the father.

"They forgot he was with them," said the father, who did not want to be named. "She would not leave him in the vehicle intentionally."

Then, near a dressing room, the mother heard another baby crying and suddenly remembered her own infant son, the father said.

At that moment, he said, she "took off running for the van" and called 911. She was crying, he said.

All of the van windows were closed except for one, which was partly open at the top, said Lt. Roy Mitchell, supervisor of the county's Exploited and Missing Child Unit.

A dark tint on some of the windows could have helped shield the infant from the heat, Mitchell said.

The boy was admitted to a hospital for observation but did not appear to be injured, police said Sunday. By Monday, the boy was released from the hospital and in good condition, Mitchell said.

Officers did not take a temperature reading in the van, he said.

Mitchell said the baby's family was cooperating with investigators, who will present their findings to the district attorney's office. State child-welfare officials also are expected to investigate the incident, police said.

Prosecutors are still reviewing a case involving a 22-month-old Valley Center girl, Alyssa Nicole Dillman, who died after spending eight hours in a car on July 14, when the temperature reached 109 degrees.

Sedgwick County sheriff's investigators said they were told that the girl's father dropped her and her 4-year-old brother off at their uncle's house near Park City. At some point, the 4-year-old went into the house. The father, who was loaning the vehicle, got into another vehicle and left. Why the younger child remained in the vehicle is unclear, investigators said.

Monday, Deputy District Attorney Kim Parker said the Dillman case raises complicated legal questions. Among other things, she said, prosecutors have to determine whether the death was intentional, reckless or negligent.

In the latest case, although the infant has been taken into protective custody, the woman's three older children -- the youngest is 8 -- remain with their mother, Mitchell said.

The 11-day-old is "a joy" to his parents, his father said.

"We do not take our eyes off of him," he said.

Asked about their feelings now that their son has been taken into protective custody, he said: "It's hard to even say. It's a loss.

"We're sitting around the house going back and forth between crying. There is nothing we can do, either, except sit and wait on the legal system to get him back."


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It doesn't say why the 15 year old didn't remember either. Yikes. Two people forgot.