UPDATE: Police have identified the boy as Boi Lei Sang. He was 2 years old, police confirmed, not 3.
A 2-year-old child died after he was left inside a hot car in a Dallas church parking lot, police and witnesses said.
The incident took place Rehoboth Praise Assembly in East Dallas Sunday afternoon, police told CBS Dallas.
On Monday, temperatures in Dallas reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with a heat index of more than 105 degrees.
A family was attending an afternoon service when another member of the church said they realized the 3-year-old was missing. The father then grasped what happened and brought the boy into the church.
“We didn’t know. We didn’t see. He just bring into the building inside, and we saw it and get the people, we need to help and call 911,” church member Reng Om, who said he knows the family, told CBS Dallas.
Om described the boy’s condition after he was retrieved from the SUV.
“He was very... looked like bad. He was grabbing his kid, and the kid would not move, and, ‘I need somebody help, call the police,’” Om said.
Police were called to the church and investigated the SUV that was still parked outside.
Om told WFAA-TV that he didn’t know how long the boy was left in the vehicle. “I’m really upset for [the] family,” Om said.
Warning for Parents
According to Kars 4 Kids, a safety group, “every 10-20 minutes, the internal temperature of the car rises 20 degrees.”
Since 1998, 618 people have died from heatstroke-related deaths in the United States.
A study funded by General Motors of Canada found that within 20 minutes the air temperature in a previously air-conditioned small car exposed to the sun on a 95 degree-day exceeded 122 degrees. Within 40 minutes the temperature soared to 150 degrees, the Canada Safety Council said on its website.
