30 Hot Days, 30 Lost Children: Season For Car Deaths Arrives

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By DEB BELT

The stories are predictable right about this time every year: Parent puts baby in back seat, parent drives somewhere intending to drop off baby, parent forgets baby in back seat. Then, with sad regularity, the baby dies from hyperthermia, known more jarringly as heatstroke.

Aside from the lost child, the cases typically destroy parents and perplex judicial systems that struggle with how to hold accountable adults whose guilt already cages them.

Last year, that happened 30 times to 30 babies.

In July 2014, a search for a missing Michigan boy with Down Syndrome came to a heartbreaking end with the discovery he had died in a hot car. The boy wandered away from his home about 8:30 on the morning of July 11, and was found in a neighbor’s car seven hours later after a massive search by about 60 area law enforcement officers.

Police said the parents of the boy said they saw him playing about 8:30 a.m., but when they woke again, they couldn’t find him. Police think the boy died from the heat after getting into the car, which was parked two houses down from his parents’ home.

The boy’s death isn’t reflected in statistics showing eight hot-car deaths in Michigan between 1990 and 2010. The kids and Cars website warns that number is probably vastly underestimated.

First Hot-Car Death of 2015

The first hot-car death of 2015 was recorded in April in Phoenix, AZ, when a man who had been drinking reportedly fell asleep with his sons in the car. One survived but the younger son was found dead inside the vehicle; charges have been filed.

But police and prosecutors nationwide wrestle with what to do with parents as the number of such deaths – where there are no obvious signs of neglect involved – begin to rise with the temperatures.

For every case of a parent who is impaired with a child in the car or who leaves a baby in a vehicle with the window open just a bit, there are executive dads and busy moms who simply forget that their child is in the back seat during a hectic day.

Common factors in the cases are stress, parents functioning on too little sleep or a change in daily routine, say experts.

And it falls to the prosecutor in each locale to decide if a soul-destroying mistake is also a crime. A Virginia man, Miles Harrison, was ultimately found not guilty of manslaughter several years ago after leaving his son, Chase, instead of dropping him off at day care.

The Washington Post described Harrison’s anguish in court as he cried for his baby, adopted by Harrison and his wife from Russia, the happy boy who transformed the couple into a family. “I hurt my wife so much,” he told the newspaper “and by the grace of whatever wonderful quality is within her, she has forgiven me. And that makes me feel even worse. Because I can’t forgive me.”

Michigan Native Who Forgot Son Educates Others

Lyn Balfour, who grew up medium-poor in Michigan, understood his misery and attended his trial. She hasn’t been able to forgive herself for forgetting her son, Bryce, in a car in March 2007 on the University of Virginia campus.

Her family had been through a chaotic week punctuated by sleep deprivation, a game of vehicular musical chairs that put her behind the wheel of an unfamiliar vehicle, and work problems she tried to solve via cellphone while taking Bryce to the babysitter’s.

Balfour, who says her son’s death was completely preventable, has dedicated her life to educating other parents. In her essay on the Kids and Car website, which works to prevent accidental car deaths, she wrote:

“I will never forget my promise to Bryce as I was cradling him quietly with tears running down my face as I kissed his cold cheek over and over in that hospital room, that I would educate as many parents on the dangers of hyperthermia and how it is absolutely possible to accidentally forget your child because no parent should feel the way I do every day.

In 2014, the national tally for child heatstroke deaths from being left in cars was 30, down from a total of 44 in 2013, according to the Kids and Cars website.

A Georgia father, Justin Harris, faces murder charges for leaving his young son, Cooper, in a hot car for seven hours while he worked. Maryland father John Junek, who reportedly forgot his son was in the back of his vehicle, faces an involuntary manslaughter charge after the child was found dead at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.

A Connecticut man charged with the hot-car death of his 15-month-old son received leniency from a judge last month and will avoid jail time for forgetting his toddler was in his car.

Also on Patch:

• How Hot Does it Get in a Parked Car?
• Heartbreaking End to Amber Alert: Lost Boy Found Dead in Hot Car
• One Day, Three Incidents of Children Left in Hot Cars in CT [UPDATE]
• Father Charged With Murder Researched Child Car Deaths

Safety advocates stress that a child’s body can overheat three to five times faster than an adult.

Patch has compiled these hot car safety tips for parents from KidsandCars.org and Parents.com. Review the list and keep a printout in your vehicle as a reminder and checklist.

• Never leave children alone in or around cars; not even for a minute.
• Put your purse, briefcase, cell phone or lunch in the backseat so you are sure to look before you lock the door.
• Make it a habit to always open the back door of your vehicle every time you park to make sure no child has been left behind.
• Keep a large stuffed animal in the child’s car seat when it’s empty; move the toy to the front seat when a child is riding in the car seat as a visual reminder that a child is on board.
• Place your child’s car seat in the middle of the backseat rather than behind the driver. It’s easier to see the child.
• Arrange with your day-care center or babysitter that you will always call if your child will not be there as scheduled.
• Lock your vehicles at all times -- even in the garage or driveway – so youngsters can’t climb in without your knowledge.
• Keep keys and remote openers out of the reach of children.
• Check vehicles and car trunks first when a child is missing.
• Take action if you see a child alone in a vehicle. Call 911 immediately.
• Discuss the issue of hot-car safety with everyone who drives your child, including partners, grandparents, and babysitters.
• Use drive-through services when available at restaurants, banks, pharmacies, dry cleaners, etc. to remain in the vehicle with your child.
• Use your debit or credit card to pay for gas at the pump.

(Michigan Patch editor Beth Dalbey contributed to this report.)