The toddler's death brings the number of children who have died in a hot car this year to 10, five of which occurred in Florida.
Published Jul 6, 2023 6:01 PM EDT | Updated Jul 6, 2023 7:16 PM EDT
Two parents were charged with aggravated manslaughter in the death of their 18-month old daughter, who died after being left inside the family vehicle overnight following a Fourth of July celebration in Lakeland, Florida, according to local authorities.
Joel and Jazmine Rondon, both 33, had gone to a Fourth of July celebration with their three children, all of which were under the age of nine, and didn't return home until around 3 a.m. on July 5. While the two were taking food and the other two children inside, Jazmine had asked Joel to bring the toddler inside, according to the Polk County police report.
"Jazmine went in to feed a six and an eight-year-old child, and she put them to bed and subsequently she went to bed," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press conference. "Joel, when he was taking the food trays into the house, noticed the right rear open. When he finished taking the food trays into the house, he noticed the door was closed. So now he thought that Jazmine must have gotten he child."
The parents both went to bed, not realizing the toddler wasn't in the house until late the next morning.
After realizing the baby wasn't in the house, Joel found the child unresponsive in the car, which was parked in the driveway "in the full sun," the report said.
The daily low temperature at Lakeland, Florida, on Wednesday didn't dip below 80 degrees, the high temperature reaching 96 degrees Fahrenheit, according to AccuWeather data. Daily high temperatures in the area haven't dipped below 90 degrees since early June, meaning Lakeland had been experiencing a heatwave for roughly a month.
AccuWeather RealFeel® temperatures had been 87 degrees Wednesday morning at 3 a.m. in Lakeland before soaring to 105 degrees by 11 a.m. EDT.
The daily high temperatures in Lakeland, Florida, have yet to dip below 90 degrees as of July 6.
The parents drove the toddler to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, but despite attempts to cool her down, the toddler couldn't be revived and was declared deceased. The cause of her death was determined to have been hyperthermia due to being left in a car. At 2:42 p.m. the day she was found, her internal body temperature was 104.4 degrees.
Both Joel and Jazmine were screened for drugs by the Department of Children and Families. Jazmine tested positive for marijuana and alcohol while Joel tested positive for marijuana, alcohol and methamphetamine, according to the police report.
The toddler's death is the tenth one this year, five of which occurred in Florida. Other states that recorded the death of a child in a hot car were Washington, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and New York.
Data collected by the nonprofit Kids and Car Safety organization shows that more than 1,000 children have died in hot cars since 1990, about 87% of which were 3 years old or younger. The organization notes another 7,300 children survived but with varying severities of injuries.
The data shows that the majority, 56%, were unknowingly left by "an otherwise loving, responsible parent or caregiver." Of that group, about 11% of the fatalities involved a miscommunication between two parties.
Experts have highlighted that cars can heat up within minutes of being closed, and data has shown that 80% of the temperature increase inside a car happens within the first 10 minutes, according to Amber Rollins, director of the Kids and Car Safety.
"It's important for families to understand that it doesn't have to be 90 degrees outside for a child to suffer from heatstroke inside of a vehicle," Rollins previously told AccuWeather. "We've seen children who have died in hot cars on days where the outside temperature was in the 50s or 60s outside, believe it or not, and that's because a vehicle does act like a greenhouse, so it allows that heat to come in through the windows, traps it inside and it's an oven; it heats up very quickly."
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