The Fairfax County Police reported the news of the tragic passing of a 5-year-old on Tuesday afternoon after the victim’s family in Springfield alerted cops about their "unresponsive" child who was left inside a car for several hours in the sultry weather of Virginia.
According to Fox News, the temperatures soared up to 93 degrees in Springfield on the fateful day.
Officers are in the 6700 block of Grey Fox Dr in Springfield after a child was left in a car and found unresponsive. The child was taken to a hospital and was pronounced deceased. Detectives from our Major Crimes Bureau are responding. #FCPD pic.twitter.com/6u7vzPD1F8
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) August 10, 2021
The child was administered CPR and rushed to a nearby hospital, hours later upon discovery. But, he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The circumstances that led to the incident are still under investigation. Fairfax County Police Lt. John Lieb maintained that it was indeed a heart-breaking casualty. He further suggested that the child’s parent overlooked the fact that the 5-year-old did not exit the car when his other siblings did, PEOPLE reported. Officials will be probing further into how the child was forgotten.
It remains unclear as to how long the child was locked inside the car, but Lieb averred that early medical reports indicated that the child was stuck inside for several hours. The rescue process sped up after 911 was summoned, post which officers arrived at the scene on Grey Fox Drive at around 3.30 pm and began performing CPR on the unconscious child. An autopsy will be conducted at the earliest to determine the real reason behind the child’s death.
Just this year, 12 children have died after being left or getting trapped in a hot car.
— nhtsagov (@NHTSAgov) August 11, 2021
Prevent these tragedies:
_ Never leave a child in a car alone.
_ Always check the backseat.
_ Lock unattended vehicles doors. #HeatstrokeKills! Always #CheckForBaby. pic.twitter.com/r0JxEeXP8B
Child fatalities due to heat strokes after being trapped inside hot cars have been a cause of real concern since 1998, reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The administration urged parents and caregivers to be extremely cautious about leaving children unattended and to continue doing double checks of the back seat before locking the car.
The NHTSA also suggested car owners refrain from leaving their vehicle windows locked to avoid instances of kids sneaking into strangers’ cars and getting locked up in the process. In most cases, it often appeared that caregivers were accused of forgetting to drop off a child at pre-school and leaving the child inside the vehicle for far too long. Roughly about 11 deaths in hot cars were reported this year across the country, as reported by the advocacy group Kidsandcars.org.
