Texas Mom Arrested After Baby Left In Hot SUV Dies

Corpus Christi police have arrested the mother of a baby who died after being left in the back seat of a hot SUV Wednesday afternoon.

Twenty-six-year-old Concepcion Rodriguez is being charged with injury to a child after police officers said she left her 15-month-old son in the car for almost three hours.

Rodriguez drove her son and six other children, from ages 3 to 7, to a store before returning home around 1 pm. The boy’s father got home around 3:45 and asked where his son was, and Rodriguez said she forgot him in the car. The child was unresponsive and still strapped into his car seat; he was immediately rushed to the Children’s Hospital but didn’t make it.

Child Protective Services is evaluating the case to see if the other children should be removed from the home, and Corpus Christi police are investigating to determine whether criminal charges should be brought against Rodriguez.

The 15-month-old’s death is at least the fourth death in a hot vehicle in Texas this year. At least 25 hot car deaths have been recorded around the country so far this year.

In a July interview with Chron.com, Amber Rollins, a spokeswoman with Kids and Cars, said:

“It happens countless times every single day, in every single city. I think one of the most important points in that it can happen to anybody … It’s heartbreaking. The death of a child is one of the most horrid things you can think of, and it’s worse when the parent is responsible.”

According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, if it is 100 degrees outside, the inside of a car can heat up to 140 degrees in 15 minutes. While the number of infant deaths increase during the summertime, Rollins said lower temperatures can also be dangerous since babies have a harder time regulating their temperature and can heat up three times faster than adults.

Experts recommend that parents leave an important item with the child to help them remember to check the back seat.