1-Year-Old Boy Dies After Being Left in Hot Car While Father Worked in Restaurant: Reports

A stock photo shows an ambulance with lights flashing. (Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

Police in Galveston, Texas, said a 1-year-old boy died after being left inside a hot car for several hours.

According to KTRK, the Galveston Police Department said the father of the unidentified boy went to work at Los Lazos Mexican restaurant and left the child in the car.

Police said it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit outside when the child was found, Click2Houston reported.

Police identified the father as Abner Pena, who left him in the family’s Chevrolet Tahoe, ABC News reported.

The report said Pena left his child there at 11 a.m. At 4 p.m., he returned to the vehicle and found the child unresponsive, said police.

The boy was alive but unresponsive while he was taken to the hospital. He was pronounced dead upon arrival, police said.

KTRK reported that no charges have been filed against Pena.

An investigation into the matter is ongoing.

Other details about the case are not clear.

Anyone with information about the case can call the Galveston Police Department at 409-765-3702.

ABC News reported that another Texas child, 4, died in Aubrey, located near Dallas.

Another Case

This month, in Florida, a woman was charged with homicide-neglect manslaughter, neglect of a child, three counts of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, and possession of drug equipment, after her 2-year-old was found dead in a hot car parked outside, police said, reported Pensacola News Journal.

Escambia County Sheriff’s Major Andrew Hobbs said Jessica Monell arrived home at around 6 a.m. on April 10, and went inside, leaving her 2-year-old daughter Joy Monell in the car.

“She got home and went inside to sleep. She forgot her kid was left in the car,” Hobbs said, according to the news website. “The poor child had to sit in the car for over eight hours in the heat.”

Monell didn’t wake up until around 4 p.m. but by then, the little girl was already dead, the sheriff major said. Monell was found sobbing hysterically on her living room floor when police arrived.

Investigators also found bags of suspected crystal meth, Xanax, and 20 grams of marijuana in Monell’s apartment, according to WESH.

Dangerous Situation

Heatkills.org, citing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that when outdoor temperatures range between 80 and 100 degrees, the interior of the car can get to 130 to 172 degrees.

“Children have died in cars with the temperature as low as 63 degrees. Basically, the car becomes a greenhouse. At 70 degrees on a sunny day, after a half hour, the temperature inside a car is 104 degrees. After an hour, it can reach 113 degrees,” stated Jan Null, adjunct professor at San Francisco State University, according to the website.

Meanwhile, Safercar.gov offers advice to parents:

• Always check the back seats of your vehicle before you lock it and walk away.
• Keep a stuffed animal or other mementos in your child’s car seat when it’s empty and move it to the front seat as a visual reminder when your child is in the back seat.
• If someone else is driving your child, or your daily routine has been altered, always check to make sure your child has arrived safely.
• Experts have noted that a car’s temperature can rise 20 degrees Fahrenheit in under 10 minutes.

Epoch Times reporter Janita Kan contributed to this report.