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MANASSAS, Va. - Kevin Kelly is a law-abiding citizen who, much distracted, left his beloved 21-month-old daughter in a sweltering van for seven hours. Frances Kelly had probably been dead for more than four hours by the time a neighbor noticed her strapped in her car seat; when rescue personnel removed the girl from the vehicle, her skin was red and blistered, her fine, carrot-colored hair matted with sweat. Two hours later, her body temperature was still nearly 106 degrees.
Sentences vary when kids die in hot cars - Yahoo! News (broken link)
Thank you for the article. Even though it gave some insight as to the rising rates of hyperthermia deaths in cars, I too am baffled as to how this is possible. After I read this article, I went out with my kids and I noticed that I automatically open my door as I close the windows-- why? Because it gets hot pretty fast and that short moment of being in the car with all windows closed can get unbearable in this weather, so having one open door helps a bit.
To others, if you haven't read this article yet, please do. It's not a story about one incident, but it tries to shed light on all the incidents. When someone had posted previously about an infant who died when left in the car for hours, I was already so saddened. Imagine my horror when I read this article and saw the "trend".
MANASSAS, Va. - Kevin Kelly is a law-abiding citizen who, much distracted, left his beloved 21-month-old daughter in a sweltering van for seven hours. Frances Kelly had probably been dead for more than four hours by the time a neighbor noticed her strapped in her car seat; when rescue personnel removed the girl from the vehicle, her skin was red and blistered, her fine, carrot-colored hair matted with sweat. Two hours later, her body temperature was still nearly 106 degrees.
Sentences vary when kids die in hot cars - Yahoo! News (broken link)
A parent "forgot" their child in a car in Pittsburgh overnight. The child was 14 months old and it was the end of the day. The mother left her strapped in her car seat with the windows rolled down and the sun roof open, went into her apartment and fell asleep. Pittsburgh experienced a couple of wicked thunder storms that night and that poor little girl wasn't found until morning, drenched from the rain and suffering from exposure. Thank God she will be fine, physically, but you have to know that child won't ever be the same again emotionally. The mother does not appear to have both oars in the water because when the police first knocked on her door that morning, she denied having a child.
I have two boys, 4 and 1, and I can't imagine forgetting them in a car or any place! Uggh.
MANASSAS, Va. - Kevin Kelly is a law-abiding citizen who, much distracted, left his beloved 21-month-old daughter in a sweltering van for seven hours. Frances Kelly had probably been dead for more than four hours by the time a neighbor noticed her strapped in her car seat; when rescue personnel removed the girl from the vehicle, her skin was red and blistered, her fine, carrot-colored hair matted with sweat. Two hours later, her body temperature was still nearly 106 degrees.
Sentences vary when kids die in hot cars - Yahoo! News (broken link)
I'm not justifying anything, but I can relate to a parent forgetting their child in a car.
I'm a single mom, and get no support from my ex-husband. A few years ago, I worked at AOL. I was a manager of a group of 14 people. My direct reports were spread out over 3 different locations and worked 3 different shifts in a 24x7 operations center. My manager expected me to spend time with each report individually, no matter when they worked. I was expected to be in the office from 8 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday to attend meetings and conference calls. I did this for 2 years. The stress was literally making me crazy. I could have been standing outside in the middle of the day and could not tell if it was day or night. I would feed my kids dinner, then an hour after they'd already eaten, I was calling them down for dinner again. I would drop my youngest daughter off at daycare then go to work. Shortly after getting settled in at work, I was running to my car in a panic thinking I'd forgotten my daughter in the back seat. There were times that I picked her up and took her home and hours after we got home, I'd call the daycare freaking out...begging them to waive the late fee for not picking my daughter up on time and they'd tell me "Ms. Thompson, you picked your daughter up hours ago".
Stress affects us all differently. As parents who love our kids, we wouldn't purposely do anything to harm them. None of us can say with any certainty that we'd never forget our child in a car, in a store, where ever. I never actually left my daughter anywhere, I just "forgot" that I'd already dropped her off or picked her up which, when you think about it, can be equally as dangerous. I am grateful that I was able to get away from the job I was in and I'm doing something that I love and I'm afforded the luxury of setting my own hours. I no longer worry that I'll "forget" that I've already done what I need to do for my children.
Last edited by Tish Thompson; 07-28-2007 at 07:45 PM..
Reason: clarification
This is getting too common... just a couple of weeks ago in spokane, a grandmother forgot her 18 mth old grandson in the car and he was found dead. With the heat wave, the temp was near triple digits. Imagine how hot it got in the car.
My dd is now 7 and when she was younger, maybe 5-6 years ago there were also alot of these deaths that summer. I remember when dh would take dd to day care (which was not his routine at all but he had to do it sometimes to help me out) I would wait about 15-20 minutes then call the daycare (yes, I was paranoid) and asked something like " oh did dh remember to bring in the diaper bag with dd?" Actually I was checking of course to make sure dh had remembered to bring dd to the day care! He always remembered but I still checked each and every time that he took her to daycare. I also unroll the windows whenever I park because we have electric doors and I am always afraid I will lock someone or my keys in the car if I accidentally hit the "all lock" button.
I think if someone is taking your child to the daycare and it's not their routine, just call and check up. My dh knew that I did this and it never hurt his feelings..........
It is so sad...........
Pam
Last edited by pammybear; 07-29-2007 at 08:53 AM..
Reason: spelling
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Children left in cars
