Authorities: Miscommunication may have led to child being left to die inside hot car

Authorities say that miscommunication between parents may have led to a toddler being left to die inside of a hot car.

News 12 Staff

May 7, 2019, 9:55 PM

Updated 1,986 days ago

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Authorities say that miscommunication between parents may have led to a toddler being left to die inside of a hot car.
The incident happened in Lakewood Monday afternoon. Officials say that a nearly 2-year-old girl was left behind in the back seat of a family’s car. They say that there may have been a miscommunication between the parents over who would bring the toddler in. A neighbor discovered the young girl around 2 p.m. Outside temperatures were in the upper-60s at the time.
AAA says that a child's body heats up three to five times faster than an adult, which means it can quickly become dangerous to leave a child inside a locked car.
“They cannot adapt quickly to those dangerous levels and that can result with organ failure and unfortunately death,” says Dr. Rajesh Mohan with Monmouth Medical Center. “Usually about 40 such deaths occur in the United States per year,” Mohan says. “In the last decade, there have been approximately 750 deaths. So every single child that died as a result, is preventable.”
Mohan says that parents should leave something in the back seat with their child like a wallet, purse or phone as a reminder that a child is in the back seat.
“So when you do get out of the car you do not forget your kid because you have to grab your wallet, your cellphone and any other important valuables,” he says.
The child’s parents have not been charged in this latest case.