Prosecutor: Infant dies after being left in hot car in Lakewood; father faces charges
Avraham Chaitovsky is charged with child endangerment and could face additional charges as the investigation continues.
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A father is facing charges after allegedly leaving his 8-week-old daughter inside a hot car in Lakewood on Monday. The child has died, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s office.
On a day when temperatures reached the mid-90s, with triple-digit heat index readings, police say Avraham Chaitovsky, of Jackson Township, left his daughter inside his vehicle, while he attended the Kollel Cheshek Shlomo synagogue in Lakewood.
“A child’s body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult. You have a recipe for disaster in literally minutes,” said Amber Rollins, director of the nonprofit Kids and Cars Safety.
Kids and Cars Safety produces PSA videos and helps educate the public, warning of the dangers of children left inside hot vehicles.
“A vehicle is essentially a greenhouse, so it allows that solar energy to come in through the windows and heats up very quickly. In fact, the majority of the temperature increase happens in the first 10 minutes,” said Rollins.
According to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, when Lakewood police arrived, they found Hatzola Medical Services trying to do whatever they could to save the life of the little girl, but she died at the scene.
“They’ll sweat, then stop sweating. They can become nauseous. Have altered mental status, become confused, not know where they are, not know who they are,” said Dr. Christopher Tolerico, associate medical director of the Ocean University Medical Center.
According to Kids and Cars Safety, 15 children have died in New Jersey since 1998, four of those deaths, in Lakewood. Amber says another hidden danger comes when parents think it’s safe to leave children in running cars.
“This auto-shutoff feature could shut the air conditioning off if you leave it running and heat is only one of many different dangers they face alone in vehicles,” added Rollins.
Chaitovsky is charged with child endangerment and could face additional charges as the investigation continues.
Kids and Cars Safety reports on average, 40 children die each year from being left inside hot vehicles nationwide.
