15-Month-Old Boy Dies in Hot Car

Despite all the warnings—and all the attention the Cooper Harris case in Georgia has received—yet another child has died in a hot car, at least the 16th so far this year. At a press conference yesterday, police in Ridgefield, Conn., released few details but said they were notified Monday evening of the death of a 15-month-old boy who was "left unattended inside a parked vehicle for an extended period of time," reports the Ridgefield Press. Sources tell WTNH that the boy's father discovered him in the car after forgetting to drop him at day care. Police have not said whether charges will be filed.

In Connecticut alone, six children have been reportedly left in cars so far this month and police warn that doing so can result in felony charges, the New Haven Register reports. A Yale School of Medicine professor of pediatrics says the inside of a car can reach 120 degrees in summer and it is never safe to leave a child in the car. "People think they're just going to be a few minutes and they get distracted. Then they come back to tragedy," he says. "The message should be to never leave your child in the car, not even for a minute." (In South Carolina earlier this week, a 3-year-old boy and his dog died after he apparently got into a car while his family was napping and became trapped.)