A baby girl was found dead on Aug. 4 inside her grandmother’s car after she mistakenly thought she had dropped the baby off at daycare earlier that day.
The four-month-old girl was found afters investigators were called Friday evening to the parking lot of Luther, Oklahoma, and found the child dead in the car’s back seat, according to the state’s County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mark Opgrande, ABC News reports.
The child’s grandmother, who was looking after the baby, was supposed to drop her off at the childcare center on her way to work, KFOR reports.
But when the grandmother returned back to the day center to collect the baby around 5 pm, she realized she had not actually dropped off the baby.
The baby girl was left inside the sweltering hot car for nearly a whole day, in the height of summer.
Temperatures in Oklahoma on Aug. 4 reached around 88 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Accuweather.
“She had apparently thought that she dropped off the child this morning, which she had not,” Sheriff Opgrande told KFOR. “After she got off work, she drove back to Luther to stop by the daycare.”
“They informed her that she did not drop off the child and they went, proceeded to look for the child inside the daycare. They couldn’t find her. That’s when they went out to the vehicle, and then discovered her outside in the back of the car. She was deceased.”
Opgrande said they questioned the grandmother, who’s named has not been released as of writing. The name of the infant was also not released.
“She’s being questioned, she’s obviously distraught, this is a tragic situation and that’s why we remind parents all the time. It’s hot out and things like this aren’t supposed to happen, but they do.”
No charges have been filed yet and the grandmother was later released from authorities. But Opgrande says a report will be forwarded to prosecutors to consider charges, according to ABC News.
The number of children found dead from hot cars in the United States so far this year has reach 30, according to noheatstroke.org.
The average number of child heatstroke fatalities every year since 1998 in the United States is 37.
According to an analysis by the organization, out of the total number of child deaths recorded, 54 percent were forgotten by the caregiver and 17 percent were left intentionally in the vehicle by the adult.
From NTD.tv
