Latest news with #hotcar
CBS News
15 hours ago
- Automotive
- CBS News
5-year-old Ohio boy dies after being left in hot car, police say
Family urges better technology to help remind drivers of children in back seat of cars A 5-year-old boy in Mansfield, Ohio, died after being left in a hot vehicle on Thursday, police said. According to CBS affiliate WBNS, Mansfield Police Chief Jason Bammann said the boy was found unresponsive in the vehicle after being left inside during the extreme heat for "an extended length of time." Police were reportedly called to Marion Avenue around 3:15 p.m. for a report of an unresponsive child in a vehicle on Thursday. WBNS reported that first responders arrived at the scene and found the boy in his mother's arms. The child was taken to a local hospital, where he died. Temperatures in Mansfield reached a high of 91 degrees on Thursday. "Our hearts are heavy for the family of this young child. Any case involving a child carries a deep emotional impact, and this incident is no exception," said Chief Bammann, according to the TV station. Police are investigating and awaiting the results of the boy's autopsy before the case is presented to the Richland County Prosecutor's Office, WBNS reported. No official charges have been filed as of Friday evening. Preventing hot car deaths This is the first hot car death in Ohio in 2025, according to Kids and Car Safety. Advocates have been calling for better safety technology to help prevent hot car deaths. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 39 children died of heatstroke in vehicles in 2024, an increase of 35 percent from 2023. Officials said a child's body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult's. Experts remind people to check their vehicles before locking the doors and walking away. "Over 50% of pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths are a result of a parent or caregiver forgetting a child in a car," the NHTSA said. If you ever see a child alone in a vehicle, call 911.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Police chief: Child dies after being left in hot car in Ohio
A child died Thursday afternoon after being left in a hot car, Mansfield police Chief Jason Bammann confirmed to the News Journal. Police and EMS officials were called to 55 Wood St. around 3:15 p.m. "We took a call of a small child; I was told 5-ish. EMS arrived and took him to the hospital, I believe OhioHealth," Bammann said. "Detectives are actively working on the case. What a horrible tragedy this is. I'm at a loss for words." He offered advice for avoiding such an outcome. "As a parent, please be aware of these hot days, how quick this can happen," Bammann said. Temperatures reached the upper 80s in Mansfield on Thursday afternoon. Cars can heat up quickly on hot days. On an 80-degree day, a car can reach 109 degrees in just 20 minutes and 123 degrees in an hour, according to CBS News. Bammann said he sympathizes with all involved. "I feel bad for the officers, the EMTs," the chief said. "I just got the phone call, and it breaks my heart." The following are tips on what to do on such hot days: Develop a routine: Make it a habit to check the back seat every time you exit the car, especially during warmer months. Visual cues: Use a personal item like a purse, briefcase or phone to remind you to check the back. Visual cues: Place a stuffed animal or other toy in the car seat when it's empty and move it to the front seat when your child is in the back. Alerts and reminders: Set a phone alarm or reminder to help you remember to check the backseat. Childcare communication: Establish a system with your childcare provider to call you if your child doesn't arrive as scheduled. Never leave unattended: Avoid leaving children or pets in the car, even for a few minutes, as the temperature inside can rise rapidly. Vehicle safety: Ensure that children cannot access car keys or remote entry devices. Educate children: Teach them that cars are not a place to play. Lock your car:Always lock it when it's not in use, even when parked at home. Be aware of heatstroke: Look for the signs of heatstroke in children and pets, such as excessive drooling, panting, weakness or vomiting. If you see a child or pet alone in a hot car, call 911 immediately. Consider a car seat alarm: Some newer cars come equipped with backseat reminder systems that can help prevent these tragedies. mcaudill@ 419-521-7219 X: @MarkCau32059251 This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Child in Mansfield dies after being left in hot car Thursday
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Bodycam shows what happened when 'distressed' baby was found in roasting car with its windows up
Distressing bodycam footage has captured the moment two police officers rescued a baby from a roasting car. The Corona Police department in California shared the video to serve as a warning for residents as scorching summer temperatures continue to rise. They were called to the scene on June 17 amid reports of a baby alone in a car with 'the engine off and windows up.' 'When officers arrived on scene, they observed the baby in distress, and breached a window to extricate him,' they said. The footage shows the two officers rushing to the car and not hesitating once they realized the baby was inside. One officer peered inside the front windscreen and returned a moment later with a metal crowbar used to shatter the front driver's side window. The car was then unlocked from the inside and the second officer immediately pulled the tiny baby out of the back seat. A thermometer reading of the car revealed the internal temperature had reached 110 degrees. The officer holding the baby tried to soothe the child, patting its back and rocking it gently. It is unclear how long the baby was trapped in the car. Officers also did not provide any further details about the child's parents. The inside of a car would take just 20 minutes to warm up to 110 degrees even on a mild day. There are countless tragic stories of babies dying after being left or forgotten inside hot cars. A Florida father was last week arrested and charged with manslaughter of a child and child neglect charges after his baby boy roasted to death in a hot car while he went drinking at a bar, police said. Sebastian Gardner, 18 months, had a body temperature of more than 110 degrees when he was found in the back of the vehicle on June 6. His father, Scott Allen Gardner, 33, allegedly left his son in his truck in 92F heat for more than three hours while he got a haircut and went drinking inside Ormond Beach's Hanky Panky's Lounge, Volusia Sheriff's Office said. 'During the investigation, Gardner gave multiple false accounts of what occurred that day,' police said. Weeks earlier, Louisiana father Joseph Boatman was also arrested and charged after his 21-month-old daughter died strapped inside a car for more than nine hours. Sheriff Randy Smith said at the time: 'When a child is left in a vehicle, especially on a day when the heat index climbs over 100 degrees, the outcome can turn deadly in a matter of minutes. 'This case involved compromised judgment, and the result was heartbreaking.' At least 1,130 children have died in hot vehicles in the country since 1990, and at least another 75,000 survived with injuries, according to Kids and Car Safety. Every year, an average of 38 children die in hot cars and about 88 percent of them are three-year-old or younger, per the statistics.
The Independent
3 days ago
- The Independent
Watch: Police smash car window to rescue baby in 110-degree car
This is the moment police pull a baby from a 110-degree (43°C) parked car in California. The baby, left alone, was in the backseat with the windows rolled up while outdoor temperatures reached around 96 degrees (35°C) on 17 June. Video shared by the Corona Police Department shows officers breaking the car window to rescue the infant from the extreme heat, which had risen to an estimated 110 degrees (43°C) inside the vehicle. The baby was treated at the scene. Authorities are investigating the incident and warning the public about the potentially fatal risk of leaving children unattended in hot cars.
Fox News
3 days ago
- Health
- Fox News
Mom who lost 9-month-old son in hot car warns parents amid US heatwave: ‘No way that could happen'
As a heatwave crashes over parts of the United States this week, one mother who lost her 9-month-old son after accidentally leaving him in a hot car is warning other parents to take precautions. Raelyn Balfour forgot her son, Bryce, was sitting in the back seat of her car when she walked into work on March 30, 2007. "I was one of those parents, years before this happened to me, who said that it has to be an irresponsible parent. There's no way that could happen. But there absolutely is a way that can happen," Balfour told Fox News Digital. The now-53-year-old mom of five, including Bryce, served in the Army for nearly 30 years before she medically retired in 2018. "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about my son. His birthday just passed on June 18. He would have been 19 years old. And to think about the things that I will forever miss — his graduation, his wedding, his children, his happiness. It's something that I have to live with every day." She recalled all the details of the day that were different from her normal routine: her husband did not have a car that week because he had lent his to his sister, so Balfour had to drop him off at work that morning. The night before, they hadn't slept well because Bryce was sick and they could not find his pacifier. Their daycare provider had recently changed phones, losing certain numbers. They recently changed out Bryce's car seat, which was too big to fit in its usual spot directly behind Balfour, so she and her husband moved it behind the passenger seat instead. Their typically talkative toddler did not make any noise in the back seat of the car that morning because he was so tired, Balfour recalled. And after dropping off her husband at work while he did not have a car, Balfour headed straight to work instead of daycare because she had a routine of making one stop before work. During her drive, she got two phone calls — one from her nephew and another urgent call from work. Balfour went in to work as usual and saw a missed call from her daycare provider around 2 p.m. She called her back, but it went to voicemail. Around 4 p.m. that day, the daycare provider called again and asked Balfour how her son was doing, knowing he had been sick that week and assuming Balfour had stayed home with her son that day. "I couldn't understand what she was talking about because, quite honestly, I thought that she was saying [my husband] had picked up Bryce early, not realizing he didn't have a vehicle," Balfour said. "I could hear the panic in her voice, and she said, 'No, Rae, you didn't drop him off this morning.' And the whole morning flashed through my mind." She immediately hung up the phone and ran to the parking lot. It had been a cold morning at 36 degrees, but the temperature had reached 66 that afternoon. The temperature inside her black car, she would later find out, reached 100 degrees on the chilly day. "I pulled him out of the car. I was screaming. I was going crazy, and I was screaming for someone to call 911," she recalled. "I immediately put him down on the ground and started CPR. And I can tell you that there's a lot of parents who believe that this isn't possible, and you have to be an irresponsible parent, but I can tell you that no one wants to know what it feels like to perform CPR on your own child." Her son was pronounced dead at a hospital that day. Balfour would later be charged with second-degree murder and felony child abuse and neglect, but a jury acquitted her within 90 minutes, Balfour said. "Then throughout the trial process, I would get very frustrated because …I don't understand how I can manage $47 million in the US military with every penny accounted for, but I can't remember my own child. Like, how is this possible?" she said. Amber Rollins Reis, director of Kids and Car Safety, told Fox News Digital that the "overwhelming majority of hot car deaths happen when an otherwise loving, responsible parent loses awareness that the baby is in the back seat." There are an average of 38 children who die in cars each year in the United States, she said. She added that parents who lose awareness of a child in the back seat showcase "a very typical function of the competing memory systems in our brains." The hippocampus stores thought memories while the basal ganglia controls habit memory, and the two functions compete with each other, she said. "When you're fatigued, stressed, you've got a lot going on, your habit memory or that basal ganglia tends to kick in more often and help you execute habits or routines that you've done many times before so that that hippocampus, or that conscious memory, isn't having to stay engaged," she explained. "So this is kind of a survival mechanism of the way that our brain functions. The problem with that habit memory, or that basal ganglia, is that when there's a change in that normal routine … your basal ganglia can't account for that." Parents who are sleep deprived or overwhelmed may be thrown off by changes in routine, thus being more susceptible to leaving children in cars on their way to work or other stops in their daily routines. About 55% of all hot car fatalities involve a parent who "lost awareness that the baby was in the back seat and did not have a reminder or did not realize until it was too late," Rollins Reis said. She recommends parents put something in the back seat that they need to move on with their day, such as a phone or laptop — something that is needed for a typical work day. Balfour said that when she had her other children, she would take off one shoe and put it in the back of her car so she would always remember to check the back. Balfour also recommends parents strap their children into their car seats with an object, such as a bright stuffed animal, and then take the stuffed animal up to a visible place in the front seat as a reminder that there is a child in the back. Developing habits like these help parents get into the routine of checking the back seats, Rollins said. Balfour has since made it her life's mission to share her son's story and help other parents remember their children in the back seat. "No matter how hard it is, and it's never easy, I'm keeping my promise to him," Balfour said. "And that's how I honor his memory. That's how honor him, is to continue to be a voice and to spread the information."
