My wife just called me to say that Connie Chung interviewed the prosecutor who is handling the case against the Southfield, Michigan, woman who left her 3 year old and 10 month old in a locked car with the windows rolled up (except for one which apparently had a small gap) while she had her hair styled. The case just gets more disgusting and unbelievable:
1. The prosecutor said the woman will have a hard time protraying herself as not understanding that her actions would likely lead to the death of the children since she was studying physics at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The whole “I didn’t understand how dangerous a hot car was” defense ain’t going to fly.
2. These cases always have gruesome/sad details like this — they found the fingerprints of the three year old on the window that was slightly open. Based on the way the bodies were placed and the woman’s statements, police believe the three year old got the infant out of the car seat and tried to find a way out of the vehicle.
3. The idiot mother is pregnant with yet a third child. No matter what else happens with this case, she should never be allowed to have custody of children ever again.
I’ve never been able to find exact statistics on how many children are killed in this manner, but in 2001 GM funded research that found at least 120 children died in the United States from 1996-2000 after being left in hot cars.
On a hot day, a small child left in a car can be killed in about 30 minutes. GM’s research found that on a 95 degree Fahrenheit day, a car with its windows closed can exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit in only 20 minutes. Heat stroke, of course, only requires temperatures above 105 degress Fahrenheit.
Never leave children in hot cars, even for a very short period of time.