North Carolina police: Toddler dies after 9 hours in hot car
SALISBURY, N.C. — Authorities in Salisbury, North Carolina, are investigating the death of a 2-year-old girl who was left in a hot car for nearly nine hours after her mother went to work at the VA Medical Center.
The Salisbury Post reports police said the mother went to work around 7:55 a.m. Thursday, leaving the child in a car seat. A passer-by discovered the child at 4:37 p.m. The car had been parked in the sun and the windows were rolled up.
Officials said a VA police officer broke a window to get into the car. Despite attempts to resuscitate the girl, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
If it is determined that the child died from hyperthermia, it would be the third such death in North Carolina this year and the 37th in the United States, Salisbury Police Capt. Shelia Lingle said, reports CBS affiliate WBTV.
Officials said the mother of the child, whose name has not been released, worked at the VA facility.
Salisbury Police detectives are working the case with the assistance of the VA Police. The child’s body was sent to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Chapel Hill where an autopsy was scheduled.
Lingle said investigators will talk to the district attorney’s office to determine how to proceed.