Infant dies after being left in car, police say

Fairfax County Police said the infant was found unresponsive in a vehicle and taken to the hospital.

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — An infant died Friday evening after being left in a car, Fairfax County police said.

Officers were dispatched to the 6400 block of Meriwether Lane in Springfield, Virginia around 5 p.m. When they got to the scene, police said an infant was left in a car and found unresponsive. The baby was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead.

A spokesperson for the Fairfax Police Department said the infant was left in the car for an undetermined amount of time.

According to WUSA9 meteorologists, the temperature would have been around 87 or 88 degrees at that time of day.

Fairfax County Police said detectives from the Major Crimes Bureau and Crime Scene Section are investigating. There has been no reported cause of death yet.

Jan Null, the founder of NoHeatStroke.org, a website that tracks hot car deaths across the country and analyzes vehicle heating dynamics, said the average number of hot car deaths for children through June 10 is around nine. As of June 12, there have been two pediatric vehicular heatstroke fatalities across the country in 2020.

"The impact of people staying at home and not being in as many situations where they might forget a child in a car has certainly had an impact," Null said.

 Infant dies after being 'inadvertently' left in car by father, police say
Fairfax County Police said an 11-month-old girl was found unresponsive in a vehicle and taken to the hospital, where she later died.

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — An 11-month-old girl died Friday evening after being "inadvertently left in a car for an extended amount of time," Fairfax County police said.

Officers were dispatched to the 6400 block of Meriwether Lane in Springfield, Virginia around 5 p.m. When they got to the scene, police said a baby girl was found unresponsive in a car. The baby was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead.

A spokesperson for the Fairfax Police Department said an initial investigation found that the father inadvertently left the baby in the car for an extended amount of time. The girl was placed in the rear seat of an SUV at his Springfield home and had left the child while he used another car to run errands.

After returning home, he drove the SUV to an in-home day care to pick up another child. It was then when he realized the 11-month-old was still in the back seat.

The exact cause of death has not yet been determined and is pending investigation by a medical examiner.

There are no charges at this time.

According to WUSA9 meteorologists, the temperature would have been around 87 or 88 degrees at that time of day.

[ Return to NoHeatstroke.org ]


“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.