Tag Archives: #HotVehicles

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.

Better Laws, Child Abuse, Child Innocence, Good Parenting, Law Enforcement, Physical Abuse

WA Women Charged In Unrelated Child Abuse Cases

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.jpg photo of kitsap county courthouse in Washington
Kitsap County Courthouse

Women charged with felony child abuse
in separate cases

PORT ORCHARD, WA  –  In unrelated incidents, two women were charged Tuesday in Kitsap Superior Court with felony child abuse.

One was charged for leaving a 1-year-old girl in a hot car while attempting to shoplift at the Silverdale Target and another for beating her 6-year-old son with a belt after he got into a fight at school.

Sheriff’s deputies were called Sept. 4 by employees of a private school in East Bremerton reporting that a student had asked to stand instead of sit, as it hurt him to sit because of “significant welts and marks” on his backside after his mother disciplined him, according to court documents.

Deputies spoke with his mother, 30, who said the boy had been assaulting other children and she wanted to stop this behavior.  She gave deputies a synthetic leather belt with metal features.

The woman pleaded not guilty to a count of third-degree assault of a child.

The boy and a sibling were placed in protective custody.

Deputies were called Sunday to the Silverdale Target after security guards there said a woman, 24, they knew to repeatedly shoplift from other Target stores had selected some bottles of alcohol.  She was then joined by a man, 56, who is believed to have gone into the store to warn her security was present, according to court documents.

The woman left behind the items but when the two went back to the car, deputies met them and attempted to serve them with a notice that they had been banned from returning to any Target.

While at the car, deputies noticed 1-year-old girl in the back seat who appeared to be sweating.  A deputy wrote in documents that it was 75 degrees out and the temperature inside the car was likely much higher.  Medics were called and said the girl was lethargic and needed to be taken to the hospital for an evaluation.

Deputies were told by a security guard that, according to surveillance camera footage taken inside the store, the two adults left the baby in the car unattended for about 23 minutes.  The girl was turned over to Child Protective Services after she was released from the hospital.

Both the man and woman were arrested and booked into the Kitsap County Jail. They pleaded not guilty to second-degree criminal mistreatment and reckless endangerment.

Better Laws, Child Abuse, Death, Good Parenting, Heatstroke, Physical Abuse

KS Steps Up For Children In Hot Vehicles

.jpg photo of director of kidsandcars.org shows how to break glass and save child from hot vehicle
Amber Rollins, director of KidsAndCars.org, demonstrates how to safely break a window using a device, the Resqme emergency window breaker and seat belt cutter.

Kansas removes lawsuit fear for rescuers of
children, pets trapped in hot cars

Beginning Sunday, good Samaritans in Kansas won’t have to think about getting sued for busting out the window of a hot car to save a child or pet trapped inside.

A new state law underscores that lives are more important than property when it comes to hot cars.  Kansas joins 18 states — including Missouri — in giving rescuers legal immunity when they believe a person or a pet is in imminent danger.  Two additional states have laws protecting pets only.

Amber Rollins, director of the non-profit Kids and Cars, on Monday demonstrated how a simple device can in seconds shatter the window of a locked vehicle, making rescue possible.  Rollins used a disabled SUV at the 129 Auto Parts salvage lot in Spring Hill, Kansas.

A hand-held, spring-loaded device called “resqme” was the only tool she needed.  It must be used on a side window because windshields and rear windows are made to not shatter.  The device, which shoots a metal pin at the glass, should be applied to a corner of a side window.  Applying it to the center of the window will not work.

The tool “resqme” can be ordered from kidsandcars.org for $7.50.

Regular nail punches available at hardware stores can also be used.  In fact, Johnson County MedAct units each carry nail punches. A crowbar or stone or any other implement also can be used.

Some things to consider when busting out a window:

  • First check to see if the vehicle is locked. Obviously, if it is not the window does not need to be broken.
  • Call 9-1-1.
  • Use appropriate force against a side window furthest away from the child or animal inside as the glass can fly.
  • Get the victim to a cool place, remove clothing and apply water.
  • Stay until emergency responders arrive.

In addition to Kids and Cars, the Kansas law was championed by Safe Kids Kansas and the Humane Society Legislative Fund of Kansas.

Although Kids and Cars is not aware of any case in which a rescuer was later sued for causing property damage to a vehicle, Rollins pointed to a New Mexico hot-car death in which two witnesses told police they saw the victim in distress but did not act.

Rollins keeps two resqmes handy.  One is attached to the driver’s seat belt of her car so it will be immediately available to use in escaping if the vehicle becomes submerged in water.  The resqme also has a blade to cut the seat belt if necessary.

Rollins keeps her other resqme on her key ring in case she notices a vulnerable child or pet in a hot car.

“A child’s body heats up three to five times faster than an adult,” said Cherie Sage, state coordinator for Safe Kids Kansas.  “Their developing bodies are not as efficient at regulating their temperature.  When a child’s internal temperature reaches 104 degrees major organs begin to shut down.  And when that child’s temperature reaches 107 degrees that child can die.”

During Monday’s demonstration, the outside temperature was in the low 80s but the temperature inside the SUV was over 100 degrees.  The air inside a vehicle can jump that much in a matter of minutes, even if the windows are partially open, because the windshield has a greenhouse effect.

There have been 18 child deaths in hot cars in the United States so far this year, about par with the average of 37 a year.  But there are three other suspected cases this year awaiting autopsy results.

In most cases the parent did not know or simply forgot that their child was in the back seat.

Kids and Cars suggests that parents make a habit of putting their smart phones in the back seat so they will have to go there to retrieve them.  Another idea is to keep a stuffed animal in the car seat and move it to the front seat when a child is strapped in to serve as a visible reminder for the parent.

Child Abuse, Child Innocence, Death, Good Parenting, Law Enforcement, StopChildAbuse

TN Toddler Left In Hot Vehicle

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.jpg photo of vehicular heat stroke victim
Kiara, 11-month-old, was found dead in a hot car

Officers testify in Child Abuse case

CHATTANOOGA, TN  –  The mother of a baby who died in a hot car in Chattanooga last week, stood before a judge today.

As of now, Jessica Tollett is charged with three counts of aggravated child abuse, but that could change.

Jessica Tollett listened on as officers testified in her child abuse case.

Earlier this month, Tollett’s 11-month-old daughter, Kiara, was found dead in a hot car.

Police have charged the father, Travis McCullough in connection to that.  But this launched an investigation into how her three children were cared for.

The two other children were at the scene and taken to the hospital.

“It appeared they had not been bathed recently.  Now when they were brought food by the hospital, they seemed to be very protective of the food, they ate it fairly quickly,” said SVU Investigator Christopher Grafe, with the Chattanooga Police Department.

After leaving the hospital, investigators went to the couple’s home at College Hill Courts.  The judge and lawyers looked over pictures of what was found.

“Walking straight back into the room, which was the worst room in the house.  It had a couch that looked like it had been torn up, in my opinion by a dog.  From my experience it looked like feces all over the ground,” Grafe said.

This isn’t the first time Tollett and McCullough have been investigated for child abuse.  It happened back in 2012, but charges against them for that were dismissed.

A police sergeant described what the motel they were living in at that time was like.

“Once inside the room the infant was asleep on one of the mattresses.  It didn’t have any sheets on it.  There was a comforter partially covering his face.  I immediately moved that off his face.  His face was dirty, his clothes were dirty, the infant also had a heavily soiled diaper.  You could tell it hadn’t been changed in a while,” Sergeant Jamie Barrow, with the Chattanooga Police Department.

Tollett’s lawyer and Prosecutors agree the charges against her should be changed.

“The highest charge that Ms. Tollett should receive in this case is attempt child neglect,” said Erinn O’Leary, a public defender.

But they disagree on what the new charge should be.

“We can say that judging by this defendant’s prior knowledge of how horribly she was keeping her one kid at that time in 2012, to how she is keeping all three of her kids and even in worse condition now that could certainly rise to serious bodily injury at some point,” prosecutor Boyd Patterson said.

The judge will make a decision about the charges on Wednesday morning.

Better Laws, Child Abuse, Child Innocence, Death, Good Parenting, Law Enforcement

Child vehicular heat stroke deaths for 2016

.jpg photo of Child Abuse and Bullying Organization
Ark of Hope for Children

#HotVehicles are not #BabySitters

As of 11:30pm, July 12, 2016, 18 Children have been lost to vehicular heat stroke.

I think everyone will agree that too many Children have lost their lives in HOT CARS.

With this in mind, Ark of Hope for Children and NOT IN MY WORLD!!!! have an effective way to slow, and hopefully stop this killer of Our Children.

  1. Share this with everyone
  2. Use and share Our Hashtag:  #HotVehicles are not #BabySitters
  3. Set a “TASK” with alarm in smartphone every time you drive Child/Children , set alarm 10-30 minutes early before arrival at destination to drop off Child/Children (depending on distance).
  4. DO NOT TURN OFF ALARM UNTIL CHILD/CHILDREN ARE DROPPED OFF, CONTINUE TO HIT SLEEPER, SET AT 5 MINUTES, UNTIL TASK IS COMPLETED.