A 1-year-old baby died in a hot car as his father left the helpless child in the sweltering vehicle to go to work!
According to the Mebane Police Department, they responded to a call for a cardiac arrest at Armacell, a North Carolina manufacturing company.
“Upon arrival, CPR was being administered on an unresponsive 12-month-old,” police said in a statement obtained to the press. “Unfortunately, life-saving measures were unsuccessful.”
Upon further investigation, police discovered the unidentified father worked at Armacell, and allegedly left the child behind in the car as he went to work at the plant.
“Investigators have not determined how long the child was in the vehicle,” police stated.
Local news reports stated that outside temperatures around noon on the day of the incident were in the upper 80s. Temperatures inside a car in that weather can reach much higher.
The name of the father has yet to be disclosed, and charges of not been filed at this time according to police but are expected soon from the District Attorney’s office.
Deaths like this of children left in cars happen far too often.
Once a car in 80-degree weather is turned off and closed, it will heat up by ten degrees in the first five minutes, according to NoHeatStroke.org. Within an hour, it will be up to 123 degrees.
The Centers for Disease Control say that it is never safe to leave children unattended in a car in any weather, even with the window cracked open. To remember that a child is in the car, they recommend keeping a large stuffed animal in the child’s car seat on days when the child is not in the seat and then moving the stuffed animal to the front passenger seat when the child is in the seat as a reminder.
Other suggestions include placing purses or bags in the backseat by the child, or even one shoe, so parents are assured to check before leaving the car.
Heartbreaking……