Baby boy dies in hot car after parent forgot to drop six-month-old at daycare
A six-month-old baby boy in Louisiana has died after one of his parents forgot to drop him off at daycare, and left him in a car as temperatures soared above 100 degrees.
The baby was discovered in the backseat around 5.46pm Tuesday, according to ABC News. The heat index - the “real-feel” measurement of heat - reached 112 degrees (Fahrenheit) in Baton Rouge that day.
The East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office said the parent realized what had happened when they went to try and pick up the baby from daycare at the end of the day. The Independent has contacted the sheriff’s office for further information.
An investigation is ongoing. The coroner’s office is conducting an autopsy in order to determine how long the child was left in the car.
More than a dozen children have died after being left in hot cars across the country this year, according to safety group KidsAndCars.org. At least 1,100 kids have died in hot cars since 1990, with 88 percent under the age of three.
In May, a six-year-old girl in Florida died after she was left in a locked car for hours and suffered exposure to extreme heat. The mother’s boyfriend was arrested and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.
Earlier this month, a two-year-old boy died after he was found inside a hot car in Georgia. Authorities with the Cobb County Police Department said the toddler was found unresponsive in a parked vehicle in Marietta, about an hour outside of Atlanta. First responders took the child to the hospital but he was pronounced deceased.