CORPUS CHRISTI — A 15-month-old boy was killed Wednesday after being left strapped in a car seat for hours inside an SUV, police said.
Police were called about 3:45 p.m. to a house in the 3700 block of Grassmere Drive. Officers were told the boy's mother had driven to a store about 1 p.m. with six other children in the vehicle and returned home.
When the boy's father arrived about 3:45 p.m. he asked about the missing toddler, who was found unresponsive in his car seat.
The boy was rushed to Driscoll Children's Hospital, where he later died, police said.
The boy’s 26-year-old mother was taken in for questioning by police and was arrested on suspicion of injury to a child. Her bail had not been set by a magistrate late Wednesday.
Temperatures reached 96 degrees Wednesday afternoon in Corpus Christi, the National Weather Service reported.
While inside a vehicle, temperatures quickly can eclipse those outside.More than 30 children die each year in the U.S. after being left inside vehicles, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Just last week, a Corpus Christi toddler was rushed to the hospital after being found unresponsive inside a sedan outside a grocery store. Police found the child's grandmother inside the store who was unaware the child had been left behind.
