Each year, roughly 40 children die from heatstroke after being left in a hot car. Those deaths most often happen when caregivers forget about infants and small children in vehicles or a child unknowingly gains access to a vehicle and becomes trapped inside. Either way, these tragedies are heartbreaking for families and community members alike.
Unfortunately, sometimes a parent or caregiver knowingly leaves a child in a car for extended periods of time. Temperatures inside a parked vehicle in the sun can quickly rise to dangerous levels, even on seemingly mild days. Recently, an 8-year-old girl died after being left in a hot car — and her mother is now facing serious charges.
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The 8-year-old girl died after being found unresponsive in a hot car in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The girl was taken to Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte on June 26. She was discovered unresponsive and in critical condition in a vehicle that evening, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, the Associated Press reported. She was pronounced dead early the next morning.
Ashlee Stallings, 36, reportedly left her daughter in the car to go to work.
The woman — identified as Ashlee Stallings, 36, in a police news release — told police she left her daughter in the car to go to work, the AP reported. Reportedly, Stallings said she kept the air conditioning running, but the girl may have turned it off if she became cold.
The mom reportedly received a text from her daughter about an hour and a half before finding her unresponsive.
When the mom returned to her car, she found her daughter "lying on the backseat floorboard unresponsive." Stallings allegedly used a hammer to break the back window and started driving to the hospital. She stopped at a business nearby to seek help, however, and someone called 911.
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It was 94 degrees that day.
According to the police affidavit, Stallings told officers she knew it was 94 degrees outside that day and that she should not have left her daughter in the vehicle, the AP reported.
The mom faces involuntary manslaughter and child abuse charges.
Stallings was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse by willful act causing serious injury, per the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. She is being held in the Mecklenburg County Jail on a $250,000 bond, the AP reported, and her next scheduled hearing is on July 17.
