Category Archives: Death

Death, Good Parenting, Heatstroke, Indifference, Physical Abuse, Teaching Parents

First Hot Car Death Of 2021

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.jpg photo of heat stroke in hot vehicle graphic
#HotVehicles Are Not #BabySitters

First Hot Car Death in 2021 Confirmed
as we Approach National Heatstroke Prevention Day

April 29, 2021  –  Today it was confirmed that a North Carolina 5-month-old baby lost her little life after being left alone in a hot car last Sunday, April 25.  Preliminary findings from the autopsy report point to the cause of death being environmental hyperthermia which is consistent with statements provided by the mother.

Saturday, May 1st is National Heatstroke Prevention Day.  Though it is too late for this little girl, we need to double our efforts to focus on education and awareness regarding the dangers of hot cars.

This year, Kids and Car Safety is emphasizing that there are technological solutions to put an end to the devastation seen every year of children and animals dying excruciating deaths in hot cars.

“After more than 20 years of public education, the number of children dying in hot cars has gotten worse, not better,” stated Janette Fennell, president of Kids and Cars Safety. “The years 2018 and 2019 were the worst in history with a total of over 100 children that died in hot cars nationwide,” she continued.

Education and public awareness are important, but not enough.  Children will continue to die in hot cars until technological solutions that can sense the presence of a child are standard in all vehicles.

The Hot Cars Act is a federal bill that will be reintroduced in the coming weeks that requires technology that can detect the presence of a child in all new vehicles to prevent hot car injury and death.   This technology is readily available and affordable.

“The only thing more tragic than a child or animal dying in a hot car is knowing that there are solutions that exist that could prevent this.  By not utilizing available technology to sense a child or pet alone inside a vehicle, we are shamefully allowing this to happen over and over again.  The price of inaction is the life of children and that is unacceptable,” said Amber Rollins, Director of Kids and Car Safety.

Nobody believes that a hot car tragedy is going to happen to them or their family until it does.  Kids and Car Safety is calling on the public to take action today by learning what to do if they see a child alone in a vehicle.  The organization is also encouraging parents to adopt several simple habits to protect their children, even if they believe this could never happen to them.

Look Before You Lock Safety Checklist
Create simple habits to help keep your child safe.

Make sure your child is never left alone in a car:

  • Place the child’s diaper bag or item in the front passenger seat as a visual cue that the child is with you.
  • Make it a habit of opening the back door every time you park to ensure no one is left behind.  To enforce this habit, place an item that you can’t start your day without in the back seat (employee badge, laptop, phone, handbag, etc.)
  • Ask your childcare provider to call you right away if your child hasn’t arrived as scheduled.
  • Clearly announce and confirm who is getting each child out of the vehicle. Miscommunication can lead to thinking someone else removed the child.

Make sure children cannot get into a parked car:

  • Keep vehicles locked at all times, especially in the garage or driveway.  Ask neighbors and visitors to do the same.
  • Never leave car keys within reach of children.
  • Use childproofing knob covers and door alarms to prevent children from exiting your home unnoticed.
  • Teach children to honk the horn or turn on hazard lights if they become stuck inside a car.
  • If a child is missing, immediately check the inside, floorboards, and trunk of all vehicles in the area carefully, even if they’re locked.

Kids and Car Safety and their safety partners will be sharing posts via social media throughout the day about how child vehicular heatstroke can be prevented with the use of technology.  They are calling on the public and media outlets to join in to support this national effort.

Kids and Car Safety has prepared posts, photos, and graphics that can be shared on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, newsletters, and websites, etc. to help raise awareness about the importance of adding existing technology to vehicles to help end these predictable and preventable hot car fatalities.

Child Abuse, Death, Heatstroke, Indifference, Physical Abuse, StopChildAbuse

OK Man Lost Daughter In Hot Vehicle

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.jpg photo of hot vehicles are not babysitters graphic
#HotVehicles Are Not #BabySitters

Edmond father to not face charges for
2-year-old’s hot car death

EDMOND, OK – Authorities in Edmond say a local father will not face charges for the death of his 2-year-old daughter.

Oklahoma Child left in hot car dies

Around 6 p.m. on Aug. 17, 911 dispatchers received a frantic call from a home in reference to a child in a hot car.

The father said that his youngest daughter, 2-year-old Cecelia Chavez, had been left in the family’s SUV for four to six hours.

When investigators arrived, they found Cecelia unresponsive, Officers and Firefighters performed CPR.  She was rushed to OU Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City where she was pronounced dead.

Cecelia Chavez became the 19th Child to lost their life to heat stroke in a hot vehicle this year.

After a thorough investigation, Edmond detectives asked Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater to file child neglect charges against the girl’s father, Joseph Chavez.

However, Prater declined those charges.

Officials say Chavez will not face charges and the case has been closed.

Child Abuse, Death, Heatstroke, Indifference, Physical Abuse, StopChildAbuse

#HotVehicles Are Not #BabySitters

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WARNING:  Child Killer Still Out There

A missing 30-year-old mother and her two kids were found dead in their vehicle Thursday morning July 23, in Farmers Branch Texas.

The Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office reports they took a missing persons report Wednesday afternoon for the mother and her two children, a 2-year-old little girl and her 4-year-old sister.

Authorities were told they left their house in Forney at about 8 a.m. Wednesday July 22, headed to Grapevine for a play date.

They never showed up and were reported missing by concerned family members.

On July 22, 2020, the two (2) little girls became the 12th and 13th Children who lost their lives to heat stroke in a hot vehicle this year, the temperature was in the mid 90’s wednesday while heat index values climbed to near 105 degrees..  Their mother apparently lost her life to drug overdose.

In Chesapeake Virginia, on tuesday July 28, 2020, authorities say that an 8-month-old baby girl has died after being left alone in an unoccupied vehicle for several hours on Tuesday.

The Chesapeake Police Department said officers responded to the report of an unattended child in a vehicle about 12:38 p.m.  First responders rendered aid and rushed the 8-month-old to a local hospital.  But she was pronounced dead.  She is the 14th child lost to heat stroke in a hot vehicle this year.

Temperatures were in the high 90s on Tuesday, while heat index values climbed to near 110 degrees.  The incident remains under investigation.

Every Child Deserves Good, Loving Parents.

Child Abuse, Child Innocence, Death, Good Parenting, Neglect, StopChildAbuse

Hub City TX Is Going Blue For Children

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.jpg photo of child abuse graphic
The Go Blue Lubbock campaign, held every April as a part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, stresses the importance of protecting children and preventing child abuse on the South Plains.

Go Blue Lubbock promotes Child Abuse
prevention

Posted Apr 3, 2020

LUBBOCK, TX  –  Amid new concerns about child abuse, the Go Blue Lubbock campaign, held every April as a part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, stresses the importance of protecting children and preventing child abuse on the South Plains.

With added pressures brought on by health concerns, job insecurity, financial strain, and other effects of the coronavirus crisis, children are at greater risk as parents and caregivers struggle to cope.

In 2019, there were 3,095 confirmed cases of child abuse in the Lubbock Region.

Fifteen children lost their lives in abuse or neglect related fatalities in this area.

The Lubbock area continues to have one of the highest rates of confirmed abuse or neglect in the state with an average of three confirmed cases in Lubbock County every day.

The public is invited to participate in the campaign by wearing blue on Go Blue Fridays throughout the month of April and sharing and tagging with the hashtag #GoBlueLubbock.

More information is available on United Way’s website at liveunitedlubbock.org/gobluelubbock.

Child Abuse, Death, Indifference, Law Enforcement, Physical Abuse, Special Needs

Autistic Child Left Outside Before Death In Icy Pool

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.jpg photo of autistic child left outside before death
Samuel Koets, an autistic Child that functioned as an 18-month-old, and was a nonverbal child.

Man to stand trial for Child Abuse after
son’s death

HUDSONVILLE, MI  –  The father accused of manslaughter in his son’s death was ordered Friday to stand trial for two counts of child abuse.

In a Hudsonville courtroom, Judge Judy Mulder dismissed a third count – child abuse in the presence of another child — that Timothy Koets faced.

.jpg photo of michigan autistic child in icy pool before his death
Samuel Koets, an autistic Child, in icy pool just before his death.

“(Koets’) daughter was not present when (Samuel Koets) was left on the porch,” Mulder said in court Friday afternoon.  “So the acts the defendant did to commit the child abuse in this case — the act of leaving his child alone on the porch unsupervised — was not done in the present of a child.  It’s very unfortunate that his daughter had to find her brother alone in the pool in the way she did, but the act of child abuse ….  was not done with the other child present so I am not able to find that there’s probably cause to bind over on count 3.”

Mulder did, however, bound Tim Koets over on two child abuse counts, one of which is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.

“The facts presented that supported this at the time of the preliminary examination were that Samuel was left on a porch unattended, that the defendant did not assure that his wife was awake to care for Samuel,” said Mulder from the bench.

“There was some testimony that he awoke her.  There was also some competing testimony that he texted his daughter during the course of the time he was gone indicating that he thought his wife was sleeping.  I’m paraphrasing… but that’s how those texts read.  There was also testimony that Samuel Koets functioned as an 18-month-old, that he was a nonverbal child and that he was attracted to water.  So … a reasonable jury listening to those facts could find that this was a reckless act that caused a serious injury to his son, Samuel.  So, therefore I’m going to bind it over on count 2 (felony child abuse in the second degree).”

Mulder previously ordered Tim Koets to stand trial on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the death of his son Sam, 16, who had autism.

Sam drowned after climbing into the backyard pool at the family’s home near Hudsonville.  Authorities say his father, a professor at Grand Rapids Community College, left him unattended when he went to work on March 28, 2019.  When one of his daughters texted him that Sam was in the icy pool, he allegedly texted back, “would you make sure the freak is OK?”

Koets and his wife Michelle Koets told “Inside Edition” in an interview that aired earlier this week that he woke his wife up before he left for work but she fell back asleep.

“It is not a reckless act for one parent to leave a child in the care of another parent,” Koets’ attorney argued Friday before his client was bound over.  “He woke his wife up.  He thought she was awake.”

In the “Inside Edition” interview, the Koetses rejected the notion that Tim Koets was negligent or uncaring.  But investigators told News 8 that Sam Koets was also living in “disturbing” conditions before the drowning.

Outside the courtroom Friday, Koets’ attorney said while he knew Michelle Koets and a daughter had been contacted by “Inside Edition” and might do an interview, he did not know beforehand that Tim Koets would participate in the story.

“Had a discussion with my client and that will not be occurring again,” defense attorney David Kallman said.

Also Friday, both Tim and Michelle Koets were arraigned on charges that they kept filling their son’s Ritalin prescription for months after he died.  Authorities say they were taking the drugs themselves.