Baby dies in Indianapolis, mother being interviewed by police

Indianapolis police are investigating the death of a baby who had been in a hot car on Saturday as temperatures climbed into the 80s.

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Emergency personnel were called to an AutoZone parking lot after a baby was found unresponsive in an SUV at about 4:45 p.m., the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said.

"EMS transported the baby to Riley [Hospital for Children] where despite the best efforts of medical staff, the baby died," police said in a release.

The mother of the child was taken in by homicide detectives to be interviewed.

No charges have been filed at this time.

"This is still considered a death investigation at this time," police said in a release. "If it is ruled a homicide a formal brief will follow."

The Marion County Coroner's Office will conduct an autopsy on Monday to determine the exact cause of death.

The temperature in Indianapolis on Saturday was 85 degrees -- the hottest day in the city so far this year.

ABC News' Devin Villacis contributed to this report.

QuadrupleMint on May 19th, 2019 at 20:33 UTC »

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ggagito on May 19th, 2019 at 16:22 UTC »

Same scenario happened where I live some years ago. Some doctor was taking his kid to daycare and en route he got a call for an emergency procedure. He parked his car and rushed inside the hospital, forgetting the child strapped in its carseat. When he remembered it was too late. Nightmare fuel.

UncleVatred on May 19th, 2019 at 14:46 UTC »

This decade old, Pulitzer Prize winning article on hot car deaths is worth a read, particularly for anyone eager to throw the book at the parents in these cases.

Two decades ago, this was relatively rare. But in the early 1990s, car-safety experts declared that passenger-side front airbags could kill children, and they recommended that child seats be moved to the back of the car; then, for even more safety for the very young, that the baby seats be pivoted to face the rear. If few foresaw the tragic consequence of the lessened visibility of the child . . . well, who can blame them? What kind of person forgets a baby?

The wealthy do, it turns out. And the poor, and the middle class. Parents of all ages and ethnicities do it. Mothers are just as likely to do it as fathers. It happens to the chronically absent-minded and to the fanatically organized, to the college-educated and to the marginally literate. In the last 10 years, it has happened to a dentist. A postal clerk. A social worker. A police officer. An accountant. A soldier. A paralegal. An electrician. A Protestant clergyman. A rabbinical student. A nurse. A construction worker. An assistant principal. It happened to a mental health counselor, a college professor and a pizza chef. It happened to a pediatrician. It happened to a rocket scientist.

Last year it happened three times in one day, the worst day so far in the worst year so far in a phenomenon that gives no sign of abating.

The facts in each case differ a little, but always there is the terrible moment when the parent realizes what he or she has done, often through a phone call from a spouse or caregiver. This is followed by a frantic sprint to the car. What awaits there is the worst thing in the world.