Baby left in car at Bowie School dies

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August 28, 2009

Child discovered after five hours in closed vehicle

By Bob Belcher The Corsicana Daily Sun Fri Aug 28, 2009, 10:21 PM CDT

A 7-month-old girl died Friday after she was left in a parked car for five hours Friday at Bowie School.

Addeleena Sanchez was left in the car by her mother, Consuela Sanchez, 23, who arrived for work as a teacher’s aide at Bowie Elementary School shortly after 8 a.m. Friday.

The mother discovered she had left the child in the car when she placed a call to her baby sitter at about 1:20 p.m., said Corsicana Police Chief Randy Bratton.

Bratton said during the call to the baby sitter, Sanchez ran from the classroom. A short time later, police received a 9-1-1 call about the child having been locked in the car since morning.

Temperatures inside a closed vehicle can rise by as much as 43 degrees in an hour, according to research conducted by a Jan Null, an adjunct professor of Meteorology at San Francisco State University.

The temperature recorded at the Corsicana Airport at 8 a.m. Friday morning was 79 degrees. At 1 p.m., the temperature was recorded at 89 degrees.

Corsicana Police officer Ronnie McGaha was first on the scene and began performing CPR on the child until ambulance personnel arrived and transported her to the hospital.

Corsicana Independent School District Police and Corsicana Police remained on the scene investigating after the child was transported. Family members arriving at the school after learning of the news left and went to the hospital.

Justice of the Peace Connie Mayfield ordered an autopsy on the child, and has not issued a cause or manner of death in the case. The child’s clothing and car seat will also be examined, Mayfield said.

“It is a tragic day for the CISD family,” said Don Denbow, superintendent, who came to the school after hearing of the incident.

So far in 2009, 29 children have died after being left in a vehicle, said Janette Fennell of the organization “Kids and Cars.” The group maintains a Web site (kidsandcars.org) with information and resources on all kinds of auto-related child deaths.

In 2008, 43 children died while being left inside locked cars in the United States, according to Null’s research. Almost 52 percent of child deaths were due to a child being “forgotten.” One-third of the deaths involved infants younger than one year of age.

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