28 June 2023
LENEXA, Kan. — Lenexa, Kansas police say a child is in critical condition after spending two and a half hours in a car during perhaps the hottest part of Monday.
Investigators say the car was not running and the windows were up. The parents of the 22-month-old are cooperating in the investigation.
FOX4 asked police if there was any indication why the child had been left in the car. There is not yet a solid answer other than authorities saying that this did not appear intentional.
Police got the call to Lenexa Baptist Church just after 3 p.m., responding to the report a young child was left inside a car.
When officers arrived the child had already been removed from the vehicle and taken into the church. Witnesses tell FOX4 the child is a boy.
The preliminary investigation shows the child was left inside the vehicle since 12:30 p.m. A time period with temperatures reaching 87 degrees in Lenexa.
Speaking generally, Laura Kemerling with the Center for Childhood Safety at Children’s Mercy Kansas City said these traumatic stories happen yearly. She warns everyone driving with children to try to get out of their routines by leaving a phone in the backseat, for example, to snap drivers out of carelessness.
“We’re moving away from the word ‘accident’ and trying to replace it with ‘preventable’ because accident eludes to it not being preventable. And oftentimes we find that when we look back and hindsight is 20/20,” Kemerling said.
“Anytime a child is in a car it creates kind of like a greenhouse effect. The temperature in the car can raise 20 degrees within 10 minutes,” Kemerling said.
One week previous, another child was rescued from a hot car at the Sun Fresh in Independence off 24-Highway. One person was ticketed for endangering the welfare of a child.
At Lenexa Baptist, the church is not commenting on the situation as police continue investigating but did share prayers for the toddler’s recovery.