A nine-year-old girl has died after her mother went to work and left her in a scorching hot car for eight hours.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez confirmed the child was left unattended in a white Toyota Camry from around 6:00AM to 2:00PM on Tuesday while her 36-year-old mother worked at a manufacturing plant near Houston, per ABC News.
The mother left her daughter with some water and the windows partially rolled down before she “proceeded to go to work for the day,” officials said during a press conference.
“There's never an excuse to leave a child unattended,” Gonzalez said.
When her shift ended, the mother returned to her vehicle and found her daughter unresponsive.
She contacted law enforcement around 2:06PM, and the child was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead, as reported by KPRC-TV.
Temperatures in the Houston area reached 93 degrees Fahrenheit that day, according to the National Weather Service.
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Sheriff Gonzalez noted that while most hot car deaths are tragic accidents: “This case appears unique. Most of the time, cases like these are due to people forgetting. Here, the child was left knowingly.”
He continued: “Maybe she has to make ends meet and keep food on the table and work. But the risk of death or harm - there's just no reconciling that in my mind. You got to make other arrangements. It's not worth it to put a child at risk like this, for any particular reason.”
At this stage, “nothing at this point shows that the mother 'thought this would be the outcome,’” Gonzalez added.
According to Kids and Car Safety, an organization focused on saving the lives of children and pets in and around vehicles, this latest death marks the 13th child to die in a hot car in the U.S. this year.
Since 1990, at least 1,136 children have died in hot cars nationwide, and another 7,500 have survived with injuries of varying severity.
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On average, 37 children under 15 die each year after being left in cars, according to the National Safety Council.
Data shows that approximately 88% of children who die in hot cars are age 3 or younger, and the majority (55%) were unknowingly left by an otherwise responsible caregiver.
Kids and Car Safety recommends:
- Place the child’s diaper bag or item in the front passenger seat as a visual cue.
- Open the back door every time you park to ensure no one is left behind.
- Place an essential item (phone, handbag, laptop) in the back seat to enforce this habit.
- Ask childcare providers to call if your child doesn’t arrive as scheduled.
- Announce and confirm who is getting each child out of the vehicle.
- Keep vehicles locked at all times, even in the driveway.
- Never leave keys within children’s reach.
- Use childproof knob covers and door alarms.
- Teach children to honk the horn or turn on hazard lights if trapped inside.
- If a child is missing, immediately check all vehicles, including trunks.
According to the National Safety Council, a car’s internal temperature can reach 114 degrees in just 10 minutes and 129 degrees in 30 minutes on a 95-degree day.
A child's body heats up three to five times faster than an adult’s, and heatstroke can begin when their body temperature hits 104 degrees, with 107 degrees being lethal.