A parked car is no place for kids or animals
Wednesday, August 1st, 2012By Lindsay Pollard-Post
It’s a nightmare come true: In a moment of distraction, a baby is left behind in a parked vehicle. The sun beats down, the car heats up and the child—unable to escape the sweltering vehicle—dies of heatstroke.
A Virginia father lived this horror on July 13. He reportedly forgot to drop off his 5-month-old son at daycare on his way to work, instead leaving the infant strapped into his car seat all day. The father realized his fatal error only after he went to pick up the boy after work and found him unresponsive in the backseat. By then, it was too late. At least three other babies have died in similar tragedies in the past few weeks. Nearly 40 children die every year after being left in hot cars.
Animals, too, suffer and die every summer after their guardians forget them—or intentionally leave them—in a hot vehicle. Two days before the Virginia boy’s death, Jeg, a drug-sniffing dog with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, had to be euthanized after his human partner reportedly left him in a hot patrol car for more than an hour. The officer was apparently switching vehicles when he left to respond to a crash and forgot that Jeg was still in the first car. Click to continue »
