Three-Year-Old Dies in Texas After Being Left in Daycare Van for Hours
Temperatures inside the van reached 113 degrees by the time he was found.
Workers of a Houston-area daycare facility are currently cooperating with law enforcement to understand how a three-year-old boy was left inside the daycare's transportation van following a class field trip Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately, it was simply too late by the time the staff realized, as the young boy had already succumbed to the extreme Texas heat.
The "Discovering Me Academy" took a total of 29 students to a nearby park as part of a school field trip, according to CNN. Upon the field trip's completion, the kids were loaded onto the van and returned to the school between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m., when the driver and chaperone claim to have unloaded the van and guided the kids inside the daycare facility. According to the Harris County sheriff's office, school records show that the person in charge of roll call had marked the missing three-year-old boy as "present" on the list, and that it wasn't until 6:30 p.m. when the boy's father showed up to pick him up that they realized he was missing.
"It's just tragic," Constable Alan Rosen told CNN. "It seems to me this was just gross negligence."
By the time the boy was found, he had been in the 113-degree cabin for nearly four hours. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead by 7:45 p.m. Thursday.
It's unclear if the boy was asleep when they arrived back at the daycare or what may have led to him being forgotten inside the van. It's also unclear if the boy was strapped to a child's seat, which could've possibly kept him from escaping the van once he realized what was happening. ABC News claims that the van's driver and the trip's chaperone have been detained for questioning but no charges have been filed.
It must be said again; don't forget to check your car prior to exiting if traveling with children or pets.
