HELOTES, Texas – A 7-month-old boy died after being left all day in a hot sport utility vehicle in a San Antonio-area Wal-Mart parking lot, authorities said.
The baby’s father, who works at the store in the suburb of Helotes, told officers that he forgot to drop his son off at day care before going to work about 6:15 a.m. Friday, said Helotes police Capt. Anthony Burges. The father found his child dead after finishing work and returning to the SUV about 3 p.m. The father was taken to a hospital after reporting chest pains, Burges said.
No charges have been filed, and the identities of the father and boy have not been released.
Temperatures in the area hovered around 100 degrees much of the afternoon.
The death brings the number of children who have died in hot cars in the U.S. this year to at least 27, six in Texas, said Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, a national child safety nonprofit based in Philadelphia. On Aug. 4, twin 15-month-old girls died after being found in the back seat of a hot SUV parked in front of a duplex car Carrollton in northwestern Georgia. When police arrived, they found people holding the girls in the water of a baby pool behind the duplex, some with ice packs, trying to cool the girls off.