CALVERTON PARK—Authorities say an 11-month-old girl has died after being locked inside a car for 15 or 16 hours in suburban St. Louis.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Florissant Valley Fire Protection District received a call around 4:30 p.m. Sunday about an infant who wasn’t breathing and found the child unresponsive in Calverton Park.
11-month-old infant dies after 15 hours in hot car in Calverton Park https://t.co/kO5N57vhgo
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch (@stltoday) June 5, 2019
A Florissant Valley Fire Protection District spokesman told KSDK paramedics responded to the home at 4:30 p.m. and spotted someone performing CPR on the baby. The spokesperson said the child was “hot to the touch” and described the scene as being chaotic, Crime Online reported.
Infant girl dies after being left in hot car for 16 HOURS: Report https://t.co/WKX5asM1KV via @crimeonlinenews
— Crime Online (@crimeonlinenews) June 4, 2019
First responders were unable to revive her. It’s unclear why the child was left inside the car for so long.
“It is unclear if the parents were inside the house during that entire period, or if the vehicle was parked in the same place the whole time,” the spokesman told KSDK.
The high temperature in St. Louis on Sunday was 79 degrees. Police have questioned two persons of interest in the girl’s death.
“It doesn’t have to be a blazing hot day for these to happen,” Jan Null, a San Jose State professor and former meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the San Jose Mercury News. “They can happen anywhere, and happen to anyone.”
Null told SFGate that the temperatures inside vehicles heat up rapidly, with the air rising about 19 degrees over whatever the outside temperature is in the first 10 minutes and rising another 10 degrees in the next 10 minutes.
Additionally, Null said the bodies of small children heat up three to five times faster compared to adults.
“So, while you and I could be in a car that’s, say, 109 degrees, an infant or small child would be to the point of entering heat stroke,” he said.
Other Incidents
A 4-year-old trapped in a hot car helped rescue seven toddlers between the ages of 2 and 4 in Maryland after dialing 911.
A father’s decision tragically ended up costing him his young son’s life.
Kristopher Taylor of Apple Valley is expected back in court later this week after he was charged with manslaughter for leaving his 4-year-old son in a hot car for hours. pic.twitter.com/qdw2wD7MD2
— Ashley Zilka (@ashleyzilka) May 7, 2019
The car was unlocked, but the windows were rolled up.
Sheriff’s officials said there was only a single car seat in the vehicle, WJLA reported.
The suspect in the case is a mother of two of the children involved in the case. The mother allegedly told the children not to leave the vehicle, it was reported.
Charles County Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating after authorities say seven toddlers from ages 2 to 4 years old were left in a hot car in a parking lot of the St. Charles Towne Center in Waldorf. https://t.co/Z4gjFmepZD
— ABC 7 News – WJLA (@ABC7News) May 10, 2019
According to reports on May 7, a toddler died after being left in a car in New Jersey.
Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips, The Associated Press, and NTD News staff contributed to this article.
