A one-year-old child died last Wednesday after being left in a parked car for nine hours outside of a hospital in Washington state.
Police said the baby’s foster mother arrived at the hospital for work around 8 a.m. and left the child inside the car, not realizing her drastic error until she returned just after 5 p.m., according to the Puyallup Police Department.
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The child was rushed into the hospital but could not be revived. Officers said no charges have been filed against the foster mother, who has been cooperating with the investigation, per CNN.
The temperature last Wednesday in Puyallup, which is south of Seattle and southeast of Tacoma, was between 70 and 75 degrees. However, police said the inside of the car when the baby was found was approximately 110 degrees.
“You have a woman who gives her life to helping people, and to have this happen — it’s just a tragic, tragic incident,” Captain Ryan Portmann of the Puyallup Police Department said.
On Sunday, a baby died after her parents left her in their car for about three hours while they attended a church service in Florida. The baby was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
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An average of 38 children under age 15 die each year from heatstroke after being left in a vehicle, with nearly every state experiencing at least one death since 1998, according to the National Safety Council.
The CDC advises people to never leave children inside a parked car, even when it feels cool outside and even when a window is left open. “Children who are left unattended in parked cars are at greatest risk for heat stroke, and possibly death,” the agency says.
