Police say infant in Texas dies after being left in hot car for hours
5 life-saving suggestions for hot cars
Studies have shown that hot cars can be fatal to children and pets trapped inside after just one hour.
USA TODAY
In Texas, an infant was found dead after his grandmother left him in a hot car for hours, officials say.
The grandmother placed the 9-month-old child in a car seat in the back seat of her vehicle around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in Beeville, about 90 miles southeast of San Antonio, police said in a Facebook post. The woman discovered the unresponsive child hours later, around 4 p.m.
Local news reported that the grandmother was babysitting the child while the parents were at work. When authorities arrived at the scene, she was holding the baby in her arms, reports said. According to The Weather Channel, the temperature was over 100 degrees that day.
Beeville police and the Texas Department of Public Safety are investigating the incident. It is being considered intentional homicide, officials said in a Facebook post.
“At this time, no charges have been filed in this case, but they are expected to be,” police added.
USA TODAY has reached out to Beeville police for more information.
Deaths caused by overheated cars: Infant dies after being found ‘unresponsive’ in hot car outside Massachusetts daycare
The temperatures in the car are higher than outside
Although the majority of these tragedies occur in the summer, deaths have been recorded every month, according to TC Palm, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Studies have shown that vehicles quickly become dangerously hot even in moderate outdoor temperatures. If the outside temperature is 72 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature inside the vehicle can rise to 125 degrees Fahrenheit within 60 minutes, with 80 percent of the temperature increase occurring in the first 30 minutes, the National Safety Council said.
In general, if the ambient temperature is between 72 and 96 degrees, you can expect an average increase in the internal temperature of 40 degrees after 60 minutes.
Interior temperatures in vehicles can be as much as 10 degrees higher than outside temperatures. According to Consumer Reports, even on a cool day with an outside temperature of 16 degrees Celsius, the interior temperature of a car will reach more than 40 degrees Celsius within an hour.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, on a 72-degree day, the interior of a car can be fatal in less than 30 minutes.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the risk of high temperatures is particularly high for young children because their bodies heat up three to five times faster than that of an adult.
Heat stroke can occur in children when their body temperature reaches about 104 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, a child can die if their body temperature reaches 106 degrees Fahrenheit.
Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected].
