19-Month-Old Girl Dies After Being Left In Hot Car, The Third Such Accident In California This Year
Despite the attention drawn to the issue each time a child dies, the tragedies continue to pile up.
The Mercury News:
Toddler Left In Hot Car Dies
An 19-month-old girl died Tuesday after being left alone in the backseat of a car all day in Moraga, police said. The tragedy appears to be an accident, but police will know more after the investigation is complete, police Chief Jon King said. Confirmed by King on Wednesday, the death is the first of its kind in the Bay Area and third in California this year. “The family is devastated,” he said. (Hurd, 9/12)
The Mercury News:
Death Of Child In Hot Car In East Bay Recalls Similar Tragedies
While the death of an 19-month-old girl who’d been left alone in the backseat of a car all day Tuesday in Moraga was an unspeakable tragedy, it sadly was not the first. California has seen a number of such incidents in recent years. Despite the heavy publicity that usually follows such tragedies — and the warnings by authorities to take steps to ensure that such accidents never happen — the cases seem to keep coming. Since 1998, 789 children have died due to pediatric vehicular carstroke, according to data at noheatstroke.org, a website run by Jan Null, a San Jose State professor and former meteorologist with the National Weather Service. (May, 9/12)
In other news from across the state —
The California Health Report:
Jump In Sacramento Homeless Deaths Follows Statewide Trend
The number of homeless people dying in Sacramento County is up dramatically, according to a new report, reflecting a trend that’s engulfing the state as homelessness continues to rise. A total of 127 homeless people died in 2017, according to a report by the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, which obtained figures from the county coroner’s office. That’s up from 71 deaths in 2016, a 75 percent increase. It’s also almost three times the average number of deaths of homeless people in the county between 2002 and 2013. Homeless people in Sacramento County are now five times more likely to die than people in the general population, the report stated. They’re also 23 times more likely to be murdered, and 17 times more likely to commit suicide, figures showed. (Boyd-Barrett, 9/13)