Mom arrested in baby’s death

Published 6:07 pm Wednesday, April 8, 2009

LYNNWOOD

The mother of a baby who apparently died after being left in a car for seven hours Monday was arrested and briefly jailed for investigation of second-degree manslaughter.

The 1-year-old child was left alone in a car seat for hours in the parking lot of Sunrise of Lynnwood, an assisted living center in the 18600 block of 60th Avenue W, said Shannon Sessions, Lynnwood police spokeswoman.

The mother, a 21-year-old Everett woman, was booked into the Lynnwood city jail Monday night and immediately released on her own recognizance as the investigation continues.

The mother works at Sunrise of Lynnwood. Sessions said the boy may have been in the car from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“We don’t know if she left him so she could go to work” or if she forgot, Sessions said.

The woman went to her car about 2 p.m., realized the boy was unresponsive, and carried him into the nursing home’s lobby to seek medical help. The child was dead when police and firefighters arrived.

It is against state law and Lynnwood municipal code to leave a child under 7 unattended in a vehicle. Somebody at least 12 must be present.

People are charged with second-degree manslaughter in cases where prosecutors believe the death was the unintentional result of negligence. The state must prove recklessness in first-degree manslaughter cases.

The boy’s mother has not been charged.

“As the days are starting to heat up, this is a reminder not to leave children in the vehicle,” Sessions said.

Police on Monday did not immediately know if the car’s windows were up or down before help was summoned. The Snohomish County medical examiner will determine why the boy died, she added.

The thermometer reached 69 degrees Monday at Paine Field, just north of Lynnwood, the National Weather Service in Seattle said. The temperature inside a parked vehicle would be much higher.

“We are investigating everything surrounding the death,” Sessions said.

Experts said even if the windows were down, temperatures in the small car likely would have soared Monday to dangerous levels. They warn that children are particularly at risk of fatal overheating if left unattended in a car.

“Unfortunately this happens more than people think,” said Kristen Thornstenson, a spokeswoman for Snohomish County SafeKIDS.

Since 1998, about 415 children have died nationwide after being left inside a car, said California meteorologist Jan Null. He’s known nationally as an expert on the topic and shares many of his findings on the Web site of Golden Gate Weather Services.

The boy’s death Monday likely will be the second death of a child left in a car in the U.S. this year, Null said. A 1-year-old boy died March 9 in North Carolina.

Temperatures inside a car can soar 40 degrees in an hour, he said. The heat will continue to build the longer the car sits in the sun. Interior temperatures in a sun-baked car can reach 150 degrees.

“People don’t really realize how much risk there is at leaving kids in the car,” said Dr. Russell Migita, an emergency room physician at Seattle Children’s Hospital. “Cracking a window or opening a sunroof doesn’t change things much.”

Unlike adults, small children can’t control their body temperature very well, he said. Their small bodies don’t sweat efficiently.

When body temperatures reach 104 degrees, heat stroke begins to set in and vital organs begin to fail.

Katya Yefimova and Jackson Holz write for the Herald of Everett