AMERICAN FORK, Utah– American Fork Police Department is reminding the public not to leave a child in a hot car. On Wednesday, police found a 9-year-old child dead inside a hot car.
Lt. Josh Christensen with AFPD confirmed the child was found unresponsive in a car next to a business called Roost Services at 200 East and 42 North. Employees of the business performed CPR and when emergency services arrived they took over first aid.
“They rendered first aid to the boy, but those efforts were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead,” Christensen said.
Roost Services is a business that provides care to individuals with developmental disabilities. “He was brought to this facility by a staff member in the vehicle he was located in with a few other individuals,” Christensen said.
At this time it is unclear why the boy was left in the vehicle. “Something led to the boy being left in the vehicle and we are looking at upwards of two hours before he was found,” Christensen reported.
The police department is still investigating why the boy was left in the car and what led to him not being able to get out. “We are looking at it as if it had some type of restraint, the child lock, if it had something to do with disability or what contributed to that,” Christensen said.
The police department said it was the heat that contributed to the boy’s death. “So a car that’s been left with the windows up, doors closed, car off for upwards of two hours, you can imagine the car gets pretty hot,” Christensen reported.
Christensen said children need to be our top priority when traveling in a car with them. Christensen went on to say, “Something like this can happen to anyone. It can happen to me, it can happen to you. The biggest thing is that they continue to be our priority.”
Regardless, it is important to be vigilant and this horrific tragedy should remind the public to be careful with children.