There have been four deaths involving kids left inside hot cars so far this year in Texas. One Texas mom, now advocate for car safety, shares her own close call.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A 5-year-old boy in San Antonio who was found dead after being left in his parents’ car has safety advocates speaking out.
Police say the parents didn’t realize he was missing until they went to pick him up from school only to find out he was never dropped off that morning.
His body was later discovered in the backseat.
The tragedy marks the fourth hot car death in Texas this summer and that’s already more than all of last year in the state.
Texas mom Michelle Stuyvesant knows how quickly a routine day can quickly change.
“We’d leave the house, drop him off at daycare then drive across town and take me to work,” said Stuyvesant.
It was one simple change for Michelle and her husband that turned into a nightmare.
“That particular day we reversed it,” she said.
“When he got home, he just jumped out of the car and back into the house like he normally would, about an hour and thirty minutes when he realized he hadn’t been to the daycare,” said Stuyvesant.
Her son Michael was found in the backseat.
He suffered multiple strokes and spent two months in the hospital and in rehab but he survived.
“To this day it is the worst thing I’ve ever been through in my life and I would never wish that on anyone,” she said.
Today he’s a teenager but his family’s mission has only grown.
They now advocate though the non profit organization Kids and Car Safety www.kidsandcars.org.
15 children have died in hot cars across the U.S. this year.
Last August, two of those tragedies happened here in the Coastal Bend.
A 22-month-old died in Corpus Christi outside a middle school
The next day a 9-month-old in Beeville died on one of the hottest days of the year.
“We have a saying, look before you lock. Walk around the outside of your car, to make sure the most precious cargo you have in your vehicle is safe,” said John Lennan with the Texas Dept. of Family & Protective Services.
To show just how fast temperatures rise inside a vehicle we left a teddy bear in a child seat in our news car along with a thermometer.
“It’s showing 107 and 35 percent humidity in about five minutes of time before the noon hour,” said Lennan.
Experts say use simple tools like putting your phone or bag in the backseat, setting reminders, or having your daycare call if your child isn’t dropped off on time.
“It could be something as simple as every morning, call the parent and ‘hey I dropped off baby at daycare’ or ‘hey I dropped off Jr. at the centers’, and communicate back and forth with each other,” said Lennan.
Also keep in mind temperatures don’t have to be extreme outside for the inside of your car to heat up.
One of the deaths involving a child left in a car that happened last year, it was just 77 degrees outside.
Kids and Car Safety is a nonprofit that operates on donations to help make vehicles safer for everyone and save children’s lives. You can support their life-saving efforts here.