Infant dies after being left in car

Police are investigating the death of a 7-month-old girl who was in the back seat of a car her father was driving when he noticed she was in distress on Wednesday evening.

Authorities said it appears the baby had been left in the car for a period of time and that the father only realized she was in the back seat after he was driving.

Police said the man pulled over into a shopping plaza on the northwest corner of East Grant and North Country Club roads and called 911.

Tucson Fire Department medics were called to the scene at about 5:15 p.m. and began administering aid to the child. The baby was taken to the University of Arizona Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead a short time later.

Police Sgt. Chris Widmer, a department spokesman, said both parents were with the baby at the hospital.

It was not immediately clear late Wednesday how long the baby was in the car.

Capt Barrett Baker, a Tucson Fire Department spokesman, said the original 911 call the agency received was that the baby had been left in a car all day. He said when paramedics arrived at the shopping center, the baby was "unresponsive" and that the injuries were likely heat related.

Widmer said the man told police that he was driving and turned around and saw that his child was in the back seat. That's when he pulled the car into the shopping center and summoned help. Widmer said the man told police that the baby was in the car for an "extended period of time."

The high temperature in Tucson today was 89 degrees and the humidity is 26 percent, the National Weather Service says.