A 1-year-old child died after being left inside a hot car parked outside a Walgreens store in Danielsville, Georgia. According to local police, officers responded to reports of an unresponsive child at a Walgreens store in Danielsville, located about 16 miles northeast of Athens, early Thursday afternoon.
Madison County Sheriff's Office, which is assisting Danielsville police in the hot car case, said that the toddler's mother worked at the Walgreens store. WXIA, NBC's Atlanta affiliate, reported that based on the sheriff's office estimates, the baby was inside the hot car for three or four hours before the mom discovered the kid in the vehicle.
Authorities believed that the temperature inside the car reached over 100 degrees during that time. The young child received emergency aid before being rushed to a hospital in Athens, where the kid was eventually pronounced dead.
Mom thought she dropped the kid at daycare center
Local newspaper Athens Banner-Herald reported that the mother, an employee at Walgreens, told investigators that she normally drops her two kids at separate daycare centers before going to work. Unfortunately, the 30-year-old mom accidentally left one of her children inside the car on Thursday, June 30. The report added that the woman did not realize she had never stopped at the second daycare center before arriving at Walgreens for work.
An investigation into the toddler's death remains ongoing. The sheriff's office is working with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to process evidence concerning the child's untimely death. The sheriff's office has also been in touch with the Northern Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office to determine if any charges are warranted to be filed against the mother.
According to Sheriff's Capt. Jimmy Patton, the woman was employed at a Walgreens pharmacy in Danielsville. She had been in the pharmacy for about four hours, telling the investigators she went to her Mazda SUV after that and found her child.
The mom immediately called 911 after seeing her child, who was taken to Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center, where the kid was pronounced dead. Madison County Sheriff Michael Moore said he was notified of what happened to the child at about 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. An autopsy has now been ordered to determine the child's cause of death.
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Hot car deaths continue to rise in Georgia
According to the nonprofit organization Kids and Car Safety, which tracks such deaths, this is the third child to die inside a hot car in Georgia since the beginning of the year. Two of those deaths occurred just this week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that young children rely on others to keep them cool and hydrated when it is hot. The CDC added that parents should never leave their infants or children in a parked car, even if the vehicle's windows are cracked open.
