An 11-month-old Virginia girl died Friday after her father “inadvertently” left her alone inside a car while he ran errands, investigators said Saturday.
Fairfax County police and firefighters responded around 5 p.m. to a report of an unresponsive child inside a car, police said in a statement. The girl was rushed to a hospital, where she later died.
Investigators determined the infant’s father “inadvertently” left her in the backseat of an SUV at their Springfield home for an “extended period of time” while he used a second car to run errands, police said.
“After returning home, he then drove the SUV to an in-home daycare to pick up another child when he realized the 11-month-old was still in the back seat,” the police statement said.
A medical examiner is working to determine the cause of death, police said.
Temperatures in the area on Friday reached the high 80s and low 90s, according to records from the National Weather Service.
Detectives consulted with the Fairfax County Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney, and no charges are expected to be brought in this case, police said.
Nationally, there have been at least five deaths involving children left in hot vehicles so far this year, according to KidsandCars.org, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness of and eliminating vehicle-related risks to children and pets.
