3-Month-Old Boy Dies After Being Left in Hot Car in Washington, DC

Police say that preliminarily, it appears to be a tragedy, but the investigation continues

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A three-month-old baby has died in after he was left in a hot car for several hours, Washington, D.C., police say.

It happened Tuesday evening on Park Road NW. First responders found the baby had already been removed from the car by the time they arrived, but they were unable to revive him.

D.C. police say they got a call around 6 p.m. that there was a unresponsive and unconscious infant inside a rowhouse. According to police, the child’s father said he found the baby inside a car on Park Road, and that the baby had been in the car for up to two hours.

When paramedics arrived, they tried to revive the baby.

On the radio, a first responder can be heard saying, "We have a three-month-old male, cardiac arrest ... doing CPR for about eight minutes."

News4 was told the family would have no comment.

Police identified the infant as Aaron Boyd, Jr.

Police say that preliminarily, it appears to be a tragedy, but the investigation continues.

In a recent segment on News4, Chief Meteorologist Doug Kammerer demonstrated how quickly a car can heat up.

"Once you close that door, once you close that door, after 10 minutes, that temperature — if it's outside at 90 degrees — that temperature inside the car could be 105," he said. "It's like the greenhouse effect going on. After 30 minutes in the car, the temperature is 120 degrees, and after an hour that temperature could be upwards of 130 degrees."

There is technology already installed in some new cars that will alert drivers to check the back seat before leaving the car or notify them that a child is still in a car seat.

Congressional legislation would also mandate new cars to have this technology.

According to KidsandCars.org, about every nine days there is a child who dies after being left in a hot car. They say this baby is the 15th child to die in a hot car this year.

"Child hot car deaths and injuries are largely misunderstood by the general public and the majority of parents believe this would never happen to them," KidsandCars.org said in a media release Wednesday afternoon. "In an overwhelming majority of child hot car deaths, it was a loving, responsible parent that unknowingly left the child."

The group offers these safety tips regarding kids and hot cars.

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