A 9-month-old child has died after being left in a car by the child’s grandmother for nearly eight hours in what authorities are investigating as a heat-related death.

The incident occurred in Beeville, Texas, some 100 miles southeast of San Antonio, on Wednesday when the Beeville Police Department said a child was found unresponsive at approximately 4 p.m. in the child safety seat of their grandmother’s car, according to a statement from the Beeville Police Department.

  • variants@possumpat.io
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    59
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    That’s sad and terrifying that it could happen. Baby probably fell asleep on the drive home and grandma probably forgot it was a day she picked baby up

      • randombullet
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        33
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        Just put an elaborate check list.

        Then promptly feel like you’re wasting your own time doing the check list everyday.

        Then think you’re too good for the check list.

        Then get surprised when your kid is dead.

            • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              3 months ago

              Or, alternatively, do meth

              (jk, but I hear good things about Adderall)

              You actually can get methamphetamine to treat your ADHD. It goes by the brand name “Desoxyn.”

              Adderall isn’t methamphetamine, it’s amphetamine.

              And Concerta/Ritalin aren’t methamphetamine, they’re methylphenidate.

    • wjrii@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      3 months ago

      Once or twice when mine was a baby, she fell asleep, and I began to walk away after parking. I didn’t make it more than a few steps, but the guilt and panic were real.

  • MagicShel
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    51
    ·
    3 months ago

    8 hours in a hot car in Texas sounds like a recipe for a brisket. That’s just awful. I always assume it’s an accident and not negligence until I hear otherwise, but there needs to be better safety systems for this. Either teaching new parents personal systems or built into cars.

    • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      28
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      Modern cars often have specific safety features for this, but it’s probably with older models that it happens most often.

      • LesserAbe@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        29
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        Yeah, my 2023 beeps and says “check back seat” when you turn off the car if you’ve opened the back door before you started the car.

        • Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          3 months ago

          My parents Volvo has a similar feature. I don’t know if it’s related to the doors or if there are pressure sensors in the back seat.

          The downside is that goddamn thing is so over engineered that it gives dings and warnings for everything so after a short time they become white noise

        • seang96@spgrn.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          3 months ago

          After that in my 2023 car it will also beep even more when you shut the door after exiting the drivers seat. It does it after I turn it back on after dropping the child off at day care when I am leaving it at work so it tracks it for 2 parks essentially.

        • DarkSirrush@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          3 months ago

          Mine has a weight sensor, that reminds me about back seat passengers, which a strapped in car seat would definitely trigger, considering I had to turn it off because my >30lb dog kept triggering it.

    • vrek
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      23
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      You’re not that off with the brisket comment. On the really hot days here in Texas you can take a cookie sheet, buy a pack of break and bake cookie dough, put the dough on the cookie sheet, leave it on your dash board and go to work.

      When you get out you have a dozen fresh soft baked cookies and your car smells amazing 😁

    • Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      3 months ago

      For a while, and it might still be there, Waze had an option to add a pop-up to check the back seat for kids after a drive was done. Knowing I had a backup gave me peace of mind.

    • Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      They have detection systems to make sure our keys don’t allow us to lock the car. It wouldn’t be that tough to find a way. We just need to complain to our reps.