Baby dies in baking hot car in Florida
By IANSTuesday, October 5, 2010
LONDON - A 14-month-old girl died after being left in a baking hot car for over three hours in Florida while her father attended church, a media report said Tuesday.
Kimberly James is believed to have been in the vehicle with sweltering temperatures in Florida reaching over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38c), Daily Mail reported on its website.
Her lifeless body was discovered when her father Odane returned to his car after the church service in Miramar near Miami.
Other parishioners tried to revive the baby, but she was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital.
The dead girl’s father is believed to be a pastor at the Holiness Born Again Church and had been taking part in the morning service.
Police said charges are pending the outcome of an investigation.
Toddler Kimberly was found at about 3.15 p.m. Sunday after services finished at the church, police spokeswoman Tania Rues said. The tragic girl’s father Odane returned to his car and discovered Kimberly inside, Rues added.
Guy Italien, who owns the Chez Guyto restaurant next door to the church, told the Miami Herald: “I saw a police officer come here. Then many, many more.”
A customer told him that a baby had been left in the car at the church.
He went outside and saw an officer holding the small motionless girl with hordes of people crying and screaming around her, Italien said.
The restaurant owner said he recognised the little girl as part of the church pastor’s family.
Minutes after a rescue truck arrived, she was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood where she was pronounced dead.
Hours after the tragedy, devastated worshippers remained at the church in shocked silence while police officers gathered evidence and took pictures of the site nearby.
Investigators believe Kimberly was in the vehicle for about three hours.
Kimberly is the the 49th child to die in the US this year after being left in a hot car, according to statistics gathered by the group Kids and Cars.
The number of deaths eclipses a previous annual record of 45.
