The death of a three-month-old is under investigation after the baby was left inside a car in Houston during an unrelenting heat wave as temperatures soared into the triple digits.
Houston police responded to the Harris Center for Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) around 3.25pm on Tuesday.
The mother, whose name has not been released, was visiting the outpatient mental health facility with her four-year-old child. She found her baby boy unresponsive inside the hot car when she was leaving, Assistant Chief Yasar Bashir said during a news conference.
Mr Bashir did not say how long the baby had been in the vehicle on the sweltering Houston day or if the windows had been rolled down, but gave a stern warning that a child should never be left in a car unattended.
“Houston gets very hot,” Mr Bashir said. “Under no circumstances you should leave a child in the car, not even for a moment. Don’t think the AC is going to work out fine or if you roll down the window that’s going to be fine.”
The high temperature in Houston on Tuesday reached a staggering 101 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
“From time to time, we have incidents like this, which should never happen. Especially during the summertime," Mr Bashir added.
“You should never leave a child unattended, and there should be zero child infant deaths in the city. In my opinion, that’s avoidable.”
The baby’s cause of death is still being determined by the medical examiner’s office.
No charges have been filed and the baby’s parents are cooperating with the investigation.
“I give my condolences to the parents, the mom and dad, and I also want to thank the staff here and the nurses, HFD who provided CPR and did everything they could to save this child," Mr Bashir said.
This is the 16th child reported to die this year in a hot vehicle, according to the National Safety Council.
On average, 38 children under the age of 15 die each year from heat stroke after being left in a vehicle, according to the website. Nearly every state has had at least one death since 1998. In both 2018 and 2019 a record number of 53 children died after being left in a hot vehicle.
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