Sheriff’s Detectives Investigating Death of 18-Month-Old Boy in
Walnut
Sheriff’s homicide detectives
Thursday investigated the death of an 18-month-old Chino Hills
boy left in a sport-utility vehicle in Walnut and pronounced
dead at a hospital.
Deputies were called about 5:45 p.m.
Wednesday to a dental office in a strip mall in the 20700 block
of Amar Road, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s
Department.
“(Deputies) saw the father of a
one-and-a-half-year-old child conducting CPR on his child inside
the business,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lt.
Brandon Dean told NBC4. “Deputies assisted the father by
continuing with their life-saving efforts until (Los Angeles)
County fire paramedics arrived on scene, at which time they took
over life-saving efforts.”
Kai Kayden Chen died at a
hospital, and an autopsy was pending, according to the coroner’s
office.
The father may be the owner of the business,
identified as Skyline Dental, NBC4 said.
A witness told
KCAL9 the child had been in the vehicle for seven hours and the
boy’s mother was questioned by authorities.
“I saw the
mother in the back seat of the sheriff’s car and… there’s just
no words to describe how she looked,” Melody Chin said. “She
looked just broken and tormented for what happened. The loss of
your child, how can you describe that?”
The boy’s father
was also questioned by deputies. No arrests were reported.
Boy
who died after being left in car in Walnut is 18-month-old from
Chino Hills
Los
Angeles County Coroner’s office have identified a toddler who
died Wednesday night after being left inside an SUV in a Walnut
strip mall as 18-month-old Kai Kayden Chen of Chino Hills.
Sheriff’s deputies from the Walnut-Diamond Bar station went
to the 20700 block of Amar Road at 5:45 p.m. when it was
discovered the baby had been left inside the SUV between five
and seven hours, the sheriff’s department said.
They said
the boy’s father arrived at his work in the shopping center,
forgetting to take his child to daycare.
Daycare workers
later phoned the father to inquire why the child had not
attended that day, and realized the boy was still in the car.
When deputies arrived, the father was performing CPR on his
son inside the dentist office the father owns, sheriff’s
investigators said.
The boy was taken to a hospital where
he was later pronounced dead.
Deputies also reported the
father has not been arrested, pending further investigation.
“Any time there’s a loss of a child, it’s just a very tragic event no
matter if it’s by natural means or by accident or by some other means,” he
said.