Child Dies in Hot Car on USI Campus

If you get out of the car, take your child with you!

Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the University of Southern Indiana Tuesday, for a medical emergency involving a toddler. It was determined on scene that the toddler was unresponsive after being left in a car on campus for several hours by a parent.

Sheriff Deputies say the child had been in the vehicle in the morning and they received the call around 1:45 p.m. They say the father found the young child inside the vehicle and rushed the toddler inside to USI's Children's Learning Center to get help. But it was too late.

At only 70 degrees on a sunny day, after a half hour, the temperature inside a car can reach 104 degrees. After an hour, it can reach 113 degrees. When temperatures outside range from 80 degrees to 100 degrees, the temperature inside a car parked in direct sunlight can quickly climb to between 130 to 172 even with the windows cracked.