Child rescued from hot car is second Utah case in 2 days


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LOGAN — A Logan police officer suffered minor injuries Monday after breaking the window of a woman's car to get a trapped toddler out.

"We arrived and could see the child inside was in a lot of stress. She was crying, she was screaming — very upset. So with the mother's permission, we took a claw hammer and broke out the window," said Logan Police Lt. Jeff Simmons.

The incident occurred a day after a 1-year-old Herriman boy was left inside a car for more than two hours as the temperature inside the car climbed to 150 degrees.

Simmons said Monday's incident happened in front of the woman's Logan house about 11:30 a.m. A woman who was getting ready to run errands with her two children ran back into the house to get something. But while she was gone, one of the young children accidentally locked the other in the car along with the keys, Simmons said.

The child locked in the vehicle was between 2 and 3 years old, he said. The mother attempted to break the window herself before police arrived. The child was believed to be inside the locked car for about 15 minutes, Simmons said.

The toddler was given water, checked out by paramedics and released at the scene. The officer who cut his hand was also treated at the scene.

The Sunday incident occurred in Herriman. The boy's mother had gone home from church early because she was sick and apparently ran inside the house after getting home, according to police. When the rest of the family arrived home about 2 ½ hours later, the boy was still strapped in his car seat in back.

It was more than 150 degrees inside the car when he was found, according to emergency crews. The boy's body temperature was 105 degrees. The 1-year-old boy was taken to Primary Children's Hospital in critical condition, but his condition improved and he was expected to make a full recovery.

Police advise drivers to always check the back seat after reaching their destinations, and to unload children and pets from a car before taking groceries into the house.

Unified Police Lt. Lex Bell also emphasized that cracking a window won't make enough of a difference to make it safe to leave a child or pet.

According to KidsAndCars.org, an average of 38 children die nationwide each year from heat-related deaths after being trapped inside a vehicle. Eighty-seven percent of those victims are 3 years old or younger.

Since 2010, when the nation reached a 15-year high of 49, the number of children who have died due to being left in a car has steadily declined. Last year, 25 children died from heat stroke, according to KidsAndCars.org. Through Monday, there have been 16 heat-related deaths nationwide of children left in vehicles.

Utah had 11 child heat stroke fatalities in cars between 1990 and 2015. The group reminds parents that a child's body overheats three to five times faster than an adult. Even when the windows are cracked, the temperature inside a car can reach 125 degrees in just minutes, according to the group's website.

Two-thirds of that rise in temperature happens within the first 20 minutes.

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Pat Reavy

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