An 11-month-old baby girl has died after being left in a car for three hours while her parents attended a Florida church service, police said.
Police in Palm Bay responded Sunday around 1 p.m. to a report of an unresponsive infant in a vehicle.
"When they arrived, they learned the infant had been left in a car for approximately three hours while the parents went to the church service," the Palm Bay Police Department said in a statement.
The infant was transported to a local hospital where she was later pronounced deceased, police said Tuesday. A police department spokesperson did not have the time of death available.
No arrests have been made in the case at this time and the investigation is ongoing, police said.
"This is an unfortunate incident, and our condolences and prayers go out to the family," Palm Bay Police Chief Mario Augello said in a statement.
Palm Bay is located about 75 miles southeast of Orlando. The temperature in the city around midday Sunday was in the high 70s.
The temperature inside a car can exceed 115 degrees when the outside temperature is just 70 degrees, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In 2022, 33 children died of heatstroke in vehicles, according to the NHTSA.
bigsweeps2014 on May 30th, 2023 at 22:15 UTC »
As a parent this was my biggest fear when my daughter was younger. Almost to the point it was irrational. She’s two years old now so I don’t have to worry anymore because she will yell at me lol. On a serious note, I read a lot about these cases due to my fear. It almost always happens when a parent has a change in routine and one parent does something they dont normally do. For example dad taking baby to day care when mom usually does. No idea how it happens when both parents are present. That poor child.
Civil-Dinner on May 30th, 2023 at 21:57 UTC »
Where was the baby supposed to be? In the church or with someone else?
If the baby was supposed to be in the church with them, I'd like to think at some point in at least the first hour, one of them would have wondered why the baby was being so quiet in church.
Maybe they have a nursery at the church and they forgot to check her in, then I'd think sometime early on one of them would have thought about it.
SimplyTennessee on May 30th, 2023 at 21:31 UTC »
Palm Bay, FL.
I don't think I remember a case where both parents were together and this happened.