2-Year-Old Who Died in Florida Daycare Van Is Identified

A stock photo of an ambulance. S.C. Axman/CC BY 2.0

A 2-year-old boy who died after being left in a van outside a Florida daycare has been identified as Noah Sneed.

Sneed was found dead outside Ceressa’s Daycare & Preschool in Oakland Park on July 29, WPLG reported.

“Detectives confirmed the toddler had been transported in the van to the facility Monday morning,” Broward Sheriff Office spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion said.

Noah was declared dead after 3:30 p.m. when paramedics arrived.

His cause of death will be officially determined after the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office carries out an autopsy.

“Investigators are continuing to interview daycare employees and other witnesses to determine the circumstances that led to the death,” Concepcion told the station.

A Broward County official told the Florida Sun-Sentinel that Noah was one of seven children who was picked up by the daycare’s van. A worker found him at around 3:30 p.m. on a day where temperatures reached above 90 F.

“I don’t feel sane right now.” Tony Bell, his father, told the paper. “I lost my son.”

“I’m a little mad,” he said. “I’m more sad though.”

The sister of Bell said she wants justice.

“These people are going to suffer for what they did to my little nephew,” she said. “What kind of daycare would not double-check to make sure all the kids were off the bus? How can they sleep at night?”

The Sun-Sentinel reported that the daycare was fined twice in the past 10 years.

“My baby’s gone, oh my God, I can’t do this. I don’t understand. I don’t understand,” Noah’s grandmother was quoted as saying the news outlet. “They took all the kids off but not Noah, I don’t understand.”

“You don’t know if he cried himself to death or anything in this [expletive] van,” she said.

NoHeatStroke.org says Noah is the 24th child to die this year from vehicular heatstroke.

Dangerous Situation

Heatkills.org, citing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that when outdoor temperatures range between 80 and 100 degrees, the interior of the car can get to 130 to 172 degrees.

“Children have died in cars with the temperature as low as 63 degrees. Basically, the car becomes a greenhouse. At 70 degrees on a sunny day, after a half hour, the temperature inside a car is 104 degrees. After an hour, it can reach 113 degrees,” stated Jan Null, adjunct professor at San Francisco State University, according to the website.

The NoHeatStroke.org website says 803 children have died in the United States due to heatstroke in hot cars since 1998. All of these deaths were preventable, the website said.

“The atmosphere and the windows of a car are relatively ‘transparent’ to the sun’s shortwave radiation and are warmed little. However, this shortwave energy does heat objects that it strikes. For example, a dark dashboard, steering wheel, or seat temperatures often are in the range of 180 to over 200 degrees F,” it stated.

Annually, about 38 children under the age of 15 die from heatstroke after being left in a vehicle, according to Injury Facts.