Friday, May 10, 2019 ~ BURNABY
~ West Shore Voice News
Yesterday afternoon a 16-month-old boy died after being left alone in a hot car for about nine hours in Burnaby, BC.
The little boy was found unconscious in a car at Kingsway Avenue and Inman Street, said Burnaby RCMP. The child was transported to hospital, where he was declared dead.
Burnaby RCMP said the child had been left alone in the car ‘for a number of hours.’ The child was found unconscious in the car at about 5:45 pm on a day when temperatures in the Lower Mainland reached well into the mid-20s (the high for Vancouver for May 9, 2019 was 27°C).
RCMP held a media conference to “drive home the point” to not leave children unattended in vehicles at any time, but “especially as the weather heats up”. The reminder is also to “deliver children where they need to be delivered”, which implies that the driver in this case may have forgotten or was unaware that the child was in the vehicle.
The child’s father was on scene when the child was found. Apparently both parents are cooperating with police.
“Regardless of fatigue or how many things you have on the go…. the child is the focus of your attention and your care,” said Burnaby RCMP Chief Superintendent Deanne Burleigh, who herself is a parent. “It’s about diligence and vigilance,” she said.
“It an absolute tragedy and has ripple effects throughout the community,” she said.
Generally the cause of death in such situations is heat stroke. The Mayo Clinic says about heatstroke that it requires emergency treatment. Untreated heatstroke can quickly damage the person’s brain, heart, kidneys and muscles. The damage worsens the longer treatment is delayed, increasing the risk of serious complications or death.
Interviewing witnesses, families and doing neighbourhood inquiries are part of the investigation at this early stage, said the RCMP media rep. “We want to be thorough, the infant deserves that — we speak for the victim,” said Burleigh.
No one is under arrest at the moment from this incident, she told media. Victim services were “rolled out last night”.
The incident had been reported through the 9-1-1 emergency line and first responders attended at the scene.