Autopsy on 4-Year-Old Maui Girl Found in Car

An autopsy is being conducted on a four-year-old Maui girl who was found unresponsive within a vehicle in a parking lot in West Maui on Friday, Aug. 29, 2014.

Maui police say the child is from Lahaina, and was found at around 1 p.m. on Friday within the vehicle in a parking lot located at 3500 Lower Honoapiʻilani Road.

Maui Police Lieutenant William Juan tells Maui Now that foul play is not suspected. According to Lieutenant Juan, the incident was reported by a parent. He noted that the child was not accidentally left in a hot vehicle.

According to police reports, Medics arriving on scene conducted life saving measures, and the child was transported to the Maui Memorial Medical Center for further treatment, but later died.

The cause of death is pending autopsy results. The case has been classified as an unattended death.

Other crews responding to the scene included units with the Maui Fire and Police Departments.

http://mauinow.com/2014/09/02/autopsy-on-4-year-old-maui-girl-found-in-car/

Death of girl, 4, in vehicle under investigation

Child locked herself in car after family returned home from beach, say police

September 3, 2014

The Maui News

Maui police are investigating the death of a 4-year-old girl who was found unresponsive in a vehicle Friday in the parking lot of a Honokowai apartment complex, police said Tuesday.

The cause of the girl's death was pending an autopsy. Police classified the case as an unattended death.

Police said that the girl and her family had returned home from the beach, and that the girl had been taking a nap with a parent before she awoke and went to the car, possibly to get something from the vehicle. The girl locked herself in the vehicle before she was found unresponsive around 1 p.m. Friday, police said.

Police, fire crews and paramedics attempted to revive the child after responding to the scene at Honokowai Kauhale apartments at 3500 Lower Honoapiilani Road.

The child was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center for further treatment but later died.

Police did not release the child's name Tuesday.

On Tuesday, kidsandcars.org said the girl was the first child to die of vehicular heat stroke this year in Hawaii and the 25th such death in the United States this year.

"We were very saddened to learn that a child has died in a hot car in Hawaii," Janette Fennell, founder and president of kidsandcars.org, said.

Including the girl's death Friday, six children have died in vehicular heat stroke cases in the state, according to the organization. No such deaths occurred from 2010 through last year after a state law was passed making it illegal to leave children alone in vehicles, according to the organization.

A fact sheet from the organization says that "even with the windows cracked, the temperature inside a car can reach 125 degrees in minutes."

"Leaving the windows cracked does not significantly slow the heating process or decrease the maximum temperature attained," the fact sheet says. It says a child's body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult's.

According to nationwide statistics, 54 percent of child vehicular heat stroke deaths occur when children are unknowingly left in vehicles, almost 32 percent occur when children get into vehicles on their own and nearly 12 percent occur when children are knowingly left in vehicles. Circumstances are unknown in nearly 2 percent of cases.