BENTONVILLE — A 14-month-old girl died Friday after her father went to work, leaving her strapped in her seat inside the car as the temperature outside pushed triple digits.
Police received a 911 call at 12:29 p.m. after the father arrived at Mary’s Little Lambs Daycare at 506 S.E. Moberly Lane where the child was enrolled. He reported his daughter was not breathing, according to Police Chief James Allen. Allen said it appears the father failed to drop the child off in the morning before parking his vehicle at his workplace, Walmart’s David Glass Technology Center. The center is across the street from the daycare.
The outside temperature at the time of the report was 99 degrees, Allen said. The child was pronounced dead at Northwest Medical Center-Bentonville, Allen said.
Allen said Friday no names are being released and the incident remains under investigation.
Rosemary Pham, the owner and director of the daycare, said the father was distraught when he arrived. The father cried for help and 911 was called, she said.
Pham did not know why the father came to the daycare when he discovered his daughter. She said the child, who probably has been enrolled in the daycare since she was 6 weeks old, is usually dropped off early in the day.
She described the man as a loving father. She said his two other children also were enrolled at the daycare until they began attending school.
AT A GLANCE
Children In Cars
Even in cool temperatures, cars can heat up to dangerous temperatures quickly. With the windows cracked open, interior temperatures can rise almost 20 degrees within the first 10 minutes. Anyone left inside is at risk for serious heat-related illnesses or even death. Children who are left unattended in parked cars are at greatest risk for heat stroke and death.
When traveling with children, remember to:
• Never leave infants, children or pets in a parked car, even if the windows are cracked open.
• To remind yourself that a child is in the car, keep a stuffed animal in the car seat. When the child is buckled in, place the stuffed animal in the front with the driver.
• When leaving your car, check to be sure everyone is out of the car. Do not overlook any children who have fallen asleep in the car.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Pham said teachers at the daycare were shocked by the incident.
“They are emotional at the moment,” she said. “A pastor is on his way to pray and offer counseling to us.”
Dr. Laurie Anderson, a pediatrician at the Children’s Clinic at Willow Creek in Johnson, said the child probably became weak and pale within in 10 minutes and in 20 to 30 minutes was probably vomiting and passing out.
“Certainly within an hour death would come,” she said.
Death from heat stroke caused by hyperthermia, or high body temperature, is especially an issue for children younger than 4 because they have more problems than adults cooling their bodies down.
“As your body gets hotter, and you deal with heat — you sweat, but as you get progressively hotter you get to the point you can’t sweat to cool your body down,” she said.
Lorenzo Lopez, a spokesman for Walmart, said the company's employees share in the family’s grief.
“There is no greater tragedy than the loss of a child,” he said.
Benton County Coroner Daniel Oxford said the child’s body will be sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory in Little Rock.
Oxford said the last heat-related death of a child in Benton County happened in 1998.
Sixteen-month-old Vicky Crisp and 4-month-old Sidney Pippin died April 25, 1998, after being left in an unventilated car for several hours.
Ricky Crisp was sentenced to 14 years in prison and Justin Griffith was placed on 10 years probation in connection with the children’s death.
Anderson said 50 percent of the children who die in cars from heat stroke die as a result of parents forgetting about them and 30 percent are from children playing in unattended vehicles.
According to information from the University of San Francisco’s Department of Geosciences, there have been 32 children’s deaths in the United States this year from being left in vehicles who overheated. There were 33 such deaths in 2009.
Christy Swanson contributed to this report.