3 Kids Die This Week in Hot Cars

3 Kids Die This Week in Hot Cars

Friday, August 22, 2008

Call to action: Forward this story to every mom you know to hopefully spare another innocent life.

Every week, it seems that we hear about at least one baby senselessly dying in a sweltering vehicle. A 15-month-old girl died Sunday after being forgotten in a van by her parents. Tuesday, a 4-year-old died after playing in a car. Then Thursday, a university professor forgot to drop her 11-month-old off at daycare, and the baby died after being in the family minivan for eight hours. When will it stop?

Jan and Chris Starr (an assistant pastor) were returning to their home from church with their four children Sunday when they accidentally left their 15-month-old daughter asleep in the van for three hours.

"One of the older children then said to the mother, 'Cassandra's not in bed,'" Barry Bloss, York County coroner, told WGAL. "She immediately realized her own infant can't go anywhere. She ran to the vehicle and, unfortunately, the child was deceased."

Tuesday, a 4-year-old boy locked himself in the family car for up to four hours and died. The boy informed his mother he was going to visit his father who was working in the workshop on the property that was approximately 100 yards away from the home. Police say that at some point after visiting with his father, the boy told his father he was going back to the house to see his mother. Both parents thought the other one was with him, but the boy had locked himself in the family car. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Thursday, university professor Dr. Jodie Edwards, who has a doctorate in counseling, accidentally left her 11-month-old daughter in her car seat in the rear of her Honda Odyssey when she reported to work at about 8:30 a.m. Baby Jenna was discovered by her mother when she left work at about 4:30 p.m. When police responded to Edwards' 911 call, they found the little girl dead in the car seat.

Hear the heart-breaking 911 call here.

Last month, momlogic reported that 16 kids died in hot cars in the U.S. in June and July alone. Then just last week we told you about two more kids in Houston who tragically died the same way:

- August 14 - 3-year-old Cameron Boone--who died when he was left inside a pickup truck--tried to save himself from the sweltering heat. Investigators said Boone got out of his car seat, found an extra key and tried to put it in the ignition, to no avail. Cameron's mother was supposed to drop off her son at day care around 6 a.m. before heading to work at the hospital where she was an operating room technician--but forgot. Detectives said the mother arrived at work at 6:30 a.m. and did not realize her son was in the truck until her shift was over at 3:30
p.m.--but he was already dead.

- August 13 - An unidentified 3-year-old boy died after he was left in a locked car for more than 10 hours. A family member was supposed to drop the child off at day care but forgot. She arrived at work at 7:30 a.m., and did not
discover her mistake until she pulled out at 5:45 p.m. and saw the boy's lifeless body still strapped in his car seat.

Go to page 2 for a recap of the other 16 children who died in June and July alone.

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Fatal mistake? These occurances are not mistakes, they are neglect. Pure and simple. I can not even comprehend all these poor babies being left in the car. How do you go into your home and not notice that child is not in the home with you? God Bless all.

- Debi Keller

Posted 08/25/08 12:19 PM

I don’t know about the other parents, because I didn’t here the 911 tapes of them, but Jodie Edwards needs to fry in HELL for what she has done. She had no concern or remorse in her voice, AND she left her baby in the car to go use the phone. I am not going to say it would never happen to me, but I check on my kids every few minutes if I don’t hear them screaming or playing. They NEVER go outside unless I am out there with them. I am afraid they will have a Heat Stroke because it’s so hot outside, I couldn’t imagine being stuck in a car. Also, have you people never heard of leaving your windows down just a little bit?! I agree with what Moby said, so when are they going to start making them pay for what they have done, or should I say for who they have forgotten!!!

- Misty Rosado

Posted 08/25/08 12:25 PM

This sickens me! I would never forget my children. Like one poster said, even when I am alone I still look! I just don’t get it. Or wouldn’t you notice someone is missing if you sit through an entire church service? They said baby was left in van so why did it take getting home to realize she was in the van? I’m confused. And surely throughout your day you would sense something isn’t right. Or like another poster said don’t they think about their children throughout the day???? And as far as changing the laws or making safer cars so they can sit in the front. Seriously, has it come to that? Let’s change the cars to suit people that can even have a spare thought for their child or adhere to their responsibility as a parent! Geesh, if you can’t remember your kid then put their damn diaper bag/backpack on the front seat so you DO remember they are with you. Not that hard people! I cringe when I hear these stories, horrible just horrible. And yes I can imagine this will be used as an excuse for those parents that are wanting ‘out’.

- Renee

Posted 08/25/08 03:47 PM

I did the same thing several years back. I was Bible School director. I was in a huge rush to get to church. When I got there, the kids from church came running up to me hugging me and talking to me. I was late and had 100 things on my mind at the time. I usually had someone come and want to get my daughter out of her car seat and I just assumed that they did. I had a son 18 months old and a daughter that was 2 months old. In all the hustle and bustle, I left her in the car. My sister in law came to me and asked me where she was at she wanted to hold her. I then remembered… she was in her car seat in the car. This was only a few minutes and thank God she asked me where she was at and saved my baby. I know and realize, yes we gave birth to them and I would walk on water for my 2 but 15 years later, I can say, I forgot and almost had the same thing happen to me, innocently. I would have to be put away in a mental institute if I had done this but, yes, it can happen. We should NEVER judge someone until we have walked a mile in their shoes!!! I pray for all the mothers/fathers who have faced this situation in their lives. To all the parents who face this, God bless you and hold you. Innocent things happen to innocent people.

- mom of 2

Posted 08/25/08 04:05 PM

OK, so are you all listening? It can happen to anyone. Doctors, Bible school directors, etc. No one is immune…even though you seem to think so. Just remember, be careful who you judge because it just might come back to you. What if this horrible tragedy happened to you, would you want to be chastized by people who don’t understand what you are going through? The intelligent response to this issue would be, “What can we do to help these parents who are suffering from the loss of their children?” and “What can we do as parents to help prevent this from happening again?” Do we need the government to get involved or are we smart enough to figure it out ourselves. I made the suggestion that parents and grandparents put a DVD player in their car and PLAY it ONLY when their child is with them. It Works!!! Hopefully, this suggestion will be used by some and save children from this tragedy.

- CK1

Posted 08/25/08 04:59 PM

I drove school bus and we had to ck. for sleeping kids on the bus as part of our post-trip, when i drove in CO the bus had an alarm you would have to de-activate at the back of the bus so you would ck. for kids. This happens every year in hot or cold weather,maybe there could be some kind of button to trigger when you have kids on board so this will never happen again , God willing, these families that it happen to have to feel tormented enough.

- Beth

Posted 08/25/08 11:31 PM

I drove school bus and there was a button u had to de-activate at the back of the bus to make sure on children were left on the bus. I think this happens enough in hot or cold weather,that maybe they could up with some invention to alarm parents not to forget their kids.Maybe something on the key chain anything to keep this from happening again. Maybe parents should be punished but don’t you think of the torment they are arleady going thru.

- Beth

Posted 08/25/08 11:40 PM

Do these parents even get charged with Child Neglect? or Abuse? If not murder? It is clearly neglect at the least! Stressed out or busy or whatever… It is neglecting to be a good parent! If a parent “forgot” their child in the bath they would surely be charged in some way for failing to take care of their baby! It breaks my heart that these babies are put through this. “accident” or not it is neglect at the least! You put the bleach up high, you put the blockers in the outlets, tylenol out of reach, etc…. lock your car doors.`

- Shanti

Posted 08/27/08 10:29 PM

I am a father of one. I love my son. I have never accidentally forgot him in his car seat in a hot car. I have however made mistakes, absent-minded mistakes that have caused him harm. One time I left the baby powder next to him on the floor while I was changing him. He grabbed the bottle and dumped it right in his face. He could have easily aspirated the powder, he was so little, but he wasn’t even harmed. It was very scary how easy it would be for something bad to happen while raising a child. This problem of people accidentally forgetting little ones in hot cars is going to continue to happen as long as society is filled with people who don’t think it could happen to them. We are all entitled to our opinions but I believe the best opinion is one that is established after carefully reviewing the facts. I have reviewed the facts. I have been tracking this safety hazard that children and families face for several years now. I have tried to find some way to predict who it is going to happen to and when it is going to happen and it seems to be an unpredictable, non-dicriminating accident. I have a hypothesis that the one common factor that may tie all these accidents together is that the families may never have taken the threat seriously and did not take any precautions regarding Hot Car Child Safety Hazards. If people don’t believe it could happen to them, then they will unlikely take precautions to prevent an accident which only increases the likely hood of that accident happening to them. However small the likely hood or probability.Hot Car Safety should be a standard of baby proofing. See www.2sav1.com for a Hot Car Safety Products site.

- Mark Best

Posted 08/29/08 07:59 PM

What is even more unbelievable about the case of the Professor is that she got the baby out of the carseat to take her son into preschool, straped her back into her carseat for the SECOND time that morning, and still forgot her! That 911 call is the most disgusting thing I ever heard. There is absolutely no panic, no sorrow, no nothing. I live in the town where it happened. The laws need to change to nationwide to protect these helpless children. If there is prison time involved, maybe that will jog these parents’ memories that their child is in the back seat. “No child left behind, no matter who they are, nor where they are.”

- ILIVE4MYKIDS

Posted 09/04/08 12:09 PM

no need to worry my people, there will be a device that will protect all small children from dying in hot cars. Be patient and it will come, before a year.Until then, stop being stupid and forgeting your damn kids.

- bergahoe

Posted 09/10/08 09:43 AM

When I read this story at work, I thought, I could never forget to drop my son off at day care, but then I started to think that maybe it could happen, and I ran out to my car to check if my son was in there. He wasn’t, he was safe at day care, but now I always leave my lunch and purse in the back seat so I always have to look back there before I get out of the car. I want to make sure this never happens to my baby boy.

- Sarah B

Posted 09/10/08 02:18 PM

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