No foul play suspected.
An 8-month-old baby boy was found dead in the parking lot of a Walmart in northeast Ohio after he was left in a car for hours, authorities said Wednesday.
Investigators revealed a man taking several children to day care Wednesday morning apparently forgot the baby in the third row of a sport utility vehicle, and the child’s grandmother didn’t realize he was still there when she drove the SUV to work at the Macedonia Wal-Mart around 11 a.m., according to the Associated Press.
CBS Cleveland affiliate WOIO reports that, according to police, the baby’s mother realized her son was not where he was supposed to be when only three of the children were brought home from day care.
The mother then called the grandmother, who checked the vehicle and discovered the boy, WOIO reported.
The medical examiner’s office identified the boy as Jayce Markell Benjamin from Garfield Heights, reported CBS News.
Despite gross negligence, Police don’t believe the baby was intentionally harmed, and an autopsy is scheduled for Thursday.
According to KidsAndCars.org, on average, 38 children die in hot cars each year from heat-related deaths after being trapped inside motor vehicles.
More than 700 children have died over the past two decades due to being left in a car, reported NBC News’ Today. Most of the children are mistakenly forgotten, sof the children crawl into the car without the parents’ knowledge and get stuck, while a small percentage of children die because their parents believe it’s safe to leave them.
Infants and toddlers are most at risk—87 percent of children who have died in hot cars are under age 3.
“It is quite dangerous for children and infants as they don’t have as great of an ability to regulate their temperature,” said Dr. Richard Saladino, chief of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. “If the outside temperature [is] 90, temperatures [in the car] can increase from 80 degrees to 130 degrees in 10 to 15 minutes.”