Outrage after three-year-old Alabama boy dies in hot car while in state care
His aunt said the boy, who was in foster care, was being shuttled between supervised visitation and day care. State lawmakers said they are seeking answers, and police are investigating.
A three-year-old boy in the care of a contractor with Alabama's Department of Human Resources died after being left in a hot car for about five hours, authorities said, prompting an investigation and calls from state lawmakers for better oversight.
The child, Ketorius Starks Jr., who was in foster care, was picked up around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday after a supervised visit with his father, said Brittney DeBruce, the child's aunt. She said the child was supposed to be taken to a daycare program by a worker employed by a contractor with the Department of Human Resources, which oversees child protection, foster care, and other social services.
Ms. DeBruce said in an interview Friday that Ketorius, known as KJ, was left in a car from about 12:30 p.m. until about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Bessemer, a suburb southwest of Birmingham.
The family's attorney, J. Courtney French, in an interview, said the woman transporting the boy was an employee of Covenant Services, Inc. She added that after picking him up from the supervised visit at the Bessemer Human Resources Department, she bought food, dropped him off at a tobacco store, went home, and then returned home and parked the car.
At approximately 5:30 p.m., the daycare called, asking where the child was, Mr. French said. He added that KJ was strapped into the car, which had tinted windows.
"This is a tragedy and a nightmare for any parent," he said.
The Birmingham Police Department reported that officers were dispatched shortly after 5:30 p.m. to a private home in Bessemer to respond to a report of an unconscious child. The department said the child had been "accidentally left inside a vehicle while in the care of a third-party contracted worker through the Human Resources Department."
Birmingham Fire and Rescue pronounced the child dead at the scene, police said.
Jefferson County Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Bill Yates said the official cause of death report had not yet been completed. He said that upon arrival, the person in charge had removed the child from the vehicle, a four-door sedan, and taken him to an air-conditioned residence.
"The child was found in an unoccupied vehicle, with the doors closed, the windows open, and the vehicle was hot," Mr. Yates said in an interview. He added that at this time, "there is no other possible cause of death. We currently believe the cause was the child being left in an extremely hot environment."
National Weather Service meteorologist Jessica Laws said temperatures were in the mid-to-late 90s Tuesday afternoon in the Birmingham area, but with the added humidity, the temperature reached 103 degrees Fahrenheit at 1 p.m. and 100 degrees Fahrenheit by 5 p.m.
The state Department of Human Resources confirmed Friday that a child in its care "was being transported by a contracted service provider at the time of the incident," adding that the employee had been terminated. The department did not name the child or employee or elaborate on the circumstances of the incident.
The police department reported that Birmingham police interviewed the contracted employee. A person who answered a phone call to the contractor, Covenant Services, declined to comment on Friday.
Jefferson County Deputy District Attorney Joe L. Roberts said Friday that when the law enforcement investigation is complete, the results will be presented to the district attorney for any potential charges.
After the boy's death, state lawmakers said they were seeking more information about what happened, according to statements published in local media. State Senator Merika Coleman, a Democrat, expressed her deep sorrow, saying, "We need answers, and we may need to revise state law to ensure this does not happen again."
State Rep. Ontario Tillman, also a Democrat, said his initial reaction was one of shock and confusion. He asked, "How and why did this happen?"
The average number of deaths in hot cars, known as child vehicle heatstroke, in the United States is approximately 37 per year, according to the National Safety Council. Most are forgotten in cars or in accidents related to failure to deliver children to child care centers.
According to Kids and Car Safety, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the safety of children and pets in cars, Ketorius was the 16th child to die in a hot car so far this year in the United States.