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7-month-old dies in hot, parked car
By Bill Bryan and Jeremy Kohler
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
08/24/2007

St. Louis police tow away a car where a baby was left in the parking lot at the Washington University School of Medicine today.
(Robert Cohen/P-D)

St. Louis — A pediatrician running late for a meeting at St. Louis Children's Hospital phoned her husband to meet her in front of the hospital to pick up her car.

Walking to the hospital from his job nearby, he thought she just wanted him to park her car. She thought he knew the baby was in the back seat and needed to be taken to day care because she hadn't had time to do it.

In the confusion, police said, their 7-month-old daughter Sophia was left to die Thursday in a sweltering sedan on a parking lot at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Passers-by smashed a window to get to the infant shortly before 12:30 p.m., as the outside temperature reached 95 degrees. CPR failed to revive her.

Experts said it was a classic recipe for disaster: multitasking parents breaking routine and losing track of who had the baby.

"It was a horrible mix-up as to who had responsibility of the child," said St. Louis police Capt. James Gieseke.

The mother is Beth Ann Kozel, 33, a staff physician at Children's, and the father is Russell Knutsen, 33, a research analyst at the nearby medical school. The couple, of Richmond Heights, also have a 5-year-old son.

Knutsen, red-eyed, answered the door of their one-story brick colonial home Thursday evening and declined to comment.

Neighbors described the pair as a "sweet young couple" and "perfect neighbors" who were excited to have a daughter join their young son.

"I see them out here playing with their little boy all the time," said next-door neighbor Barbara Jackson.

Gieseke said it was too soon to determine if any criminal charges would be sought. "We will investigate thoroughly and present everything to the circuit attorney's office. It will be up to them. Right now, it looks like a terrible mistake."

He said the parents were "devastated."

Police said the baby was left in the tan Toyota four-door sometime after 8 a.m. on the lot in the 4500 block of Clayton Avenue. Officers later checked the temperature inside the car and said it was 119 degrees, but that was after the car had been open for some time.

Jan Null, adjunct professor of meteorology at San Francisco State University who researches such things, said when the outside temperature is 95, the inside temperature of a car would be about 140 degrees.

HOW COULD IT HAPPEN?

Safety experts say most parents have the same reaction: It could never happen to them.

"They tend to think it happens to people who are on drugs or drinking or uncaring parents," said Janett Fennell, president of Kids and Cars, a Kansas group that tracks noncrash auto deaths of children.

But an analysis of child hyperthermia deaths by The Associated Press, published last month, found that alcohol was a factor in only 7 percent.

The AP, using data from Fennell's group, found many accidents involved what might be called community pillars: dentists and nurses, ministers and college professors, a concert violinist and a NASA engineer.

Every case was different, but many shared a common thread, Fennell said: a busy or stressed parent who wasn't used to having the child in the car.

"You're on autopilot, you go to work, lock your car, you walk in," said Fennell.

The numbers of children who died trapped in hot cars has risen sharply since 1994, when six were killed.

Null, the meteorologist, said a key reason is that parents changed their habits after front-seat air-bag deaths hit a peak of 60 in 1995.

They put their kids in the back seat, where children, especially sleeping babies, can be out of sight and out of mind. Tots in modern car seats face backward, making them harder to see. And parents may be accustomed to leaving empty seats in their cars.

Air-bag deaths plummeted to zero by 2002 and have stayed there. But heat deaths averaged 36 a year from 1998-2006, and spiked at 43 in 2005.

Experts suggest that parents of young children keep a visual reminder in the front seat, such as a teddy bear, that a child is in back. Others urge parents to put a wallet or cell phone — anything whose absence would be quickly noticed — with the baby.

The death of the 7-month-old came the same day a 2-year-old was reported to have died the same way outside a school near Cincinnati, making them the 22nd and 23rd such deaths in the U.S. so far this year.

The Associated Press analysis of more than 310 fatal incidents in the past decade found that charges were filed in about half. About four in five of those cases resulted in convictions or guilty pleas, the wire service found. Half of those brought jail sentences, with the median sentence being two years.

A group called Kids In Cars, in Washington, Mo., has advocated for charges in such incidents.

Terrill Struttmann started the group after his son, 2, was killed by a van put in gear by another 2-year-old. He said charges send a message that leaving a child in a car is unacceptable.

"But I also feel, especially with tragic circumstances like this, that no charges are going to rectify the situation," he said. "It's too late. We need to look at why these are happening."

Six years ago, a 3-year-old boy was killed in Jasper, Mo., after his parents left him in the car for an hour while they were inside a church. Authorities said then that the couple was preoccupied and forgot about the baby.

The prosecutor in that case, Steve Kaderly, said Thursday that a coroner's jury in Barton County found the death accidental and that he declined to issue charges.

"There was a sense that these people lost a kid," he said. "How much more would they have to go through?"

Jake Wagman of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

bbryan@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8950

jkohler@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8337


http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/st...2F?OpenDocument

Sad story, and I doubt it ends there.

Couples have a hard time not placing blame in these situations and the relationship is usually never the same, and leads to divorce/breakup.

One around here too:



Girl in car for hours

Friday, August 24, 2007
BY BARRETT BRUNSMAN



UNION TWP - The 2-year-old girl found dead in her mother’s car Thursday was in the vehicle from at least 8 a.m. until about 3 p.m., said a spokeswoman for the Clermont County coroner’s office.

An autopsy was performed this morning on Cecilia Slaby, who was discovered in the car parked outside at Glen Este Middle School, where her mother, Brenda Slaby, is an assistant principal.

The girl was strapped in a rear car seat. None of the windows was left down. Emergency crews tried to resuscitate her. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The preliminary determination is the child died of systemic hyperthermia, or heat-related causes, according to Debbie Hawkins, an administrative assistant/investigator for Clermont County coroner Dr. Brian Treon.

Calls from people who spotted Cecilia began flooding the Union Township Police Department around 3:14 p.m., Lt. Scott Gaviglia said.

When officers arrived in the parking lot of the school, at 4342 Glen Este Withamsville Road, they found the child.

The temperature in the area was at least 98 degrees from noon on, according to Union Township police. It would have been much hotter inside the car.

Clermont County Prosecutor Don White said the death was apparently an accident and no decision would be made on whether the mother would be charged with a crime such as child endangering until after a complete investigation by police.

Gaviglia said the investigation might be finished Sunday. Police might try to meet with White as early as Monday.

The case is the top priority of police, and most of the department’s six detectives are gathering information, Gaviglia said. They are putting together a timeline of what happened to the child over the course of the day.

Slaby was apparently at the school for a faculty meeting, Gaviglia said. School is to begin Monday.

The office of Hamilton County coroner Dr. O’dell Owens performed the autopsy.

The child’s body will remain in the Hamilton County morgue until claimed by a funeral home on behalf of the family, Hawkins said.


http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070824/NEWS01/708240427



I'll never understand how you forget your child in your car.

negligence is negligence... I'm sure 99% of the time they are responsible people... but hey, look on the bright side.. at least she got to her very important meeting on time...

Might be a good time for a little invention idea I had.

a small weight sensor that is placed under the padding of the carseat that senses a child's presence, and that is then plugged into the car and a chime/warning light goes off like when you leave your lights on or the keys in the ignition when you try to get out of the car. .


My Mustang has one in the passenger seat to determine if the occupant is too small, and it deactivates the airbag on that side. So I know the technology is there.

Maybe even go a step farther and if the sensor is triggered, the doors are locked, and a minute or 2 passes by, the horn starts honking like an alarm system.

I don't buy it If you looked in your rear view mirror while driving you would have seen the child, if you looked in the car when you got out you would see the child, if your IQ was over 50 you would have remembered the child.

I got sick to my stomach reading this as this almost happened with my 15 month old son..

I am the type of person that forgets what I did an hour ago. I can never find my keys, wallet, etc.

Well one day I was on "auot-pilot" going to work and forgot I had my son in the back who was being quiet. As I was pulling into my works parking lot he said oh so fainlty... dada. I was like holy crap... I probably would have got out of the car and went into work not thinking about it at all. I thank god he said something and turned around and dropped him off at the babysitters.

Well sorry GM and others I didn't see diddly... and I was off in the morning weeds... unfortunely it can happen. You might be right about the IQ above 50 though I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes I admit.

This will haunt these two for the rest of their lives.

I'm as sharp as a penny myself, but I never once came anywhere close to forgetting I had one or both of my kids with me.

Well I've never been able to see my son in the mirror and see cars behind me at the same time. Just not possible in my little puddle jumper. I since have purchased a little mirror that attaches to my sun visor so I can see him though.

I didn't think I would either... but like I said my mind works in mysterious ways. My son means the world to me... he was just being quiet and I was picking my eye boogars... scared me I will tell you that.

bah, someone already did.

Quote:

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United States Patent 7,250,869
Davis July 31, 2007
Child carseat alert system

Abstract

A device for alerting a user to the presence of a child in a vehicle comprising a housing having a first sensor for sensing the presence of at least one of a child and infant positioned therein. A means for detecting the operative mode of a vehicle engine is connected to the first sensor. A means for indicating the presence to a third party is connected to the first sensor. The indicating means is activated and indicates to the third party the presence of said at least one child and infant upon the detecting means detecting that the vehicle engine is in a first off mode and the first sensor sensing the presence of the at least one child and infant.
Inventors: Davis; Le'Roychelle (Freeport, NY)
Appl. No.: 11/085,311
Filed: March 21, 2005

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interesting.. it was approved less than a month ago.. it will be interesting to see how long it takes to get this on the market...

I don't understand how parents could leave children those ages alone for more then 2 minutes let alone all day in a car in the sweltering heat. The Pediatrician should lose her license to practice and the Asst. Principal should not be allowed to supervise kids.

Wow thats terrible My daughters name is Sophia too, reading just that gave me a sick feeling in my stomach. I don't get how anyone can forget about their child. I am worried constantly about what mine are doing and where they are every minute of the day.

A friend of mine and me were just discussing that 7 month old baby who died in a hot car. She thinks the parents should be charged with a crime. Yes, it IS a horrible accident but I'm not so sure. If we charge those parents then don't we have to charge all the other parents who lose a child from drowining, suffocation, being ran over, etc etc?

Where do we draw the line on who gets charged with a crime and who doesn't? Should we just let all "accidents" go (unless there are drugs/alchol involved of course) or should we start holding parents more responsible for their actions when it involves their children? If people really wanted to kill a child then all they would have to do is put him/her in a hot car and then claim they "forgot." Should they be charged? Why or why not?

I need your opinions please. Thanks!

I agree with you BG.

This was a horrible accident and these parents are devaststed. Can you imagine what they are going through?? People judge them for making a mistake but whther you want to nbelive it or not this could happen to anyone.

KING

This stuff amazes me. I can't even go into a gas station and pay for gas while my kids are in the car without freaking out. There is no way I could leave them there for any amount of time.

I'm also surprised nobody noticed the child earlier than this. She sat there all day and nobody noticed until 3:00.

that's awful...

it's amazing these horror stories you hear...

my girlfriend works dispatch for a police station and they get calls all the time about stuff like this...

and while it's common sense to call the police if you see a child in a parked car, alone, on a very hot day, my girlfriend always encourages people to do the same with dogs... if the windows are rolled up, and the car isn't running, please don't hesitate to call the police... you are not wasting anyone's time by doing so...

I am very interested in your intimation of "honesty" here -- i.e. was it "really" an accident. I will give the benefit of the doubt to these bereaved parents. But you can bet the insurance company is checking out every angle before they pay,...

Hence my statement (above) about the nanny state. On both sides of the coin, the ":murder" would have been more difficult, and the "accident" would have been preventable.

Not filing charges would be a good move on the part of the authorities. Number One -- it might have been a real accident. False accusations can cost government, and its taxpayers, a lot of money. Number Two -- Laying low until some evidence presents itself, provides good cover and concealment while your pooper-snoopers do the dirty work.

The real crime here is the lack of communication between the parents. They made a mistake. Let's not hang them out to dry, as their punishment has already been too severe.

Quote:

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I'm also surprised nobody noticed the child earlier than this. She sat there all day and nobody noticed until 3:00.

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7 months old.. not really old enough to flail around.. in the back seat, mom's a doctor so it's probably a really nice car, maybe a higher SUV with tinted windows... really not that surprising that nobody saw the baby.

As for the question at hand.. it's a tough question. When something like this happens, the natural instinct is to want somebody to pay for it... but in the end, is it really necessary? You make a great point that any parent who allows their kid alone long enough to drown or fall down the stairs or drive a go-kart into a stream... all things which have happened... would be criminally liable.

It's really hard to know exactly where to draw the line... I sort of feel like some of the morons who KNOWINGLY leave their kid in the car to go shopping or gambling for hours deserves to pay... this on the other hand seems more like a tragic accident.... I wish I had an answer but I don't.

yeah i find it hard to believe this case is anything more than a tragic accident. I also think that while this was tragic and a case of gross negligence, I don't think any punishment would be greater than what they are going through or putting themselves through, assuming details about them are correct. We aren't talking about crackheads leaving babies in dumpsters, we are talking about successful people who made a very big mistake that ultimately cost a life. You have to feel terrible for the parents. I have a 19 month old, and the thought of that happening to him breaks my heart. can't imagine what they are going through...

Yeah them doing jail time or something is a little overkill. I can see if she was going into a bar or a store but it was a mix-up and a horrible mistake I am sure the parents are devastated. This story is very sad

Unfortunately mistakes do happen.

We had a case here back in May where the routine changed. Dad forget the sleeping child was in the car after dropping the others kids off at school, which was the norm, and left the infant in the car at his business where his wife worked also..

The car alarm even went off at one point...he looked out the window and didn't see anything so just remote controlled the thing off.

The kid died.....the Grand Jury would not return a incitement on the guy....and I for one think that was the proper call.

Sometimes we need to forget this sense of vengeance and just understand sometimes, mistakes happen.

Everybody seems to be in a hurry to lock people up.

Your right Peen. If indeed it was an accident (and there are no signs it wasn't) Losing a child should be punishment enough.

I agree. Prosecuting these people wouldn't do a bit of good. They are already going through hell I'm sure.

I disagree with you that don't think they should be prosecuted. The woman left her 7 month old baby in the car alone while she went to her meeting granted the story does say that the husband worked near by and was walking over to get the car but what if the baby had been kidnapped in the time frame in between her leaving it and him getting there. To me these people should be charged with child neglect at the minimum for leaving a kid that young unattended in public.

Dawg66 does have a point. Why did she leave the car before her husband got there? Was that meeting THAT important to take the chance of something happening to her baby??

KING

You do bring up a good point....unlike the case I mentioned that happened here.

She made a choice to leave the child in the car....it wasn't a case of her getting so involved in her daily routine she "forgot" about a sleeping baby in the back.

Very sad