An 11-month-old baby is dead after being left in a hot car for after his parents left him inside as they unloaded groceries, police say.
The incident was reported in the 3100 block of Northwest 19th Street. According to police, the family, which includes two parents and five children, had just returned home from grocery shopping Wednesday evening.
The parents told investigators they eventually realized the 11-month-old baby wasn't inside the apartment. The family searched for about an hour and found the child still inside the car, unresponsive.
When paramedics responded the parents were performing CPR on the child. Officials say the child was taken to a nearby hospital but later died.
Police were speaking with the parents at the scene early Wednesday evening.
"They're extremely remorseful, they're very, very upset, the entire family," Lauderhill Police Lt. Gregory Solowsky said.
It is not yet know whether the parents will be charged in the incident, but authorities say it appears to have been a tragic accident. Meanwhile, their other children have been place in the care of relatives as the parents are scheduled to appear in court Thursday afternoon.
The names of the parents have not been released.
According to data from the Florida Department of Highway Safety, this is the ninth hot car death in the United States since the beginning of 2015, and the second so far this year in Florida.
In June, an 18-month-old girl died after being left in a hot car while her mother inadvertently left her in the car as she taught school near Panama City.
"In South Florida it is extremely hot, and temperatures can rise exponentially inside a vehicle very very quickly and children are obviously much more susceptible to the heat than adults," Lt. Solowsky said. "It is imperative that members of our community see what is going on here today and learn from it and make sure that this doesn't occur to them."
