Toddler Dies After Spending 9 Hours in a Hot Car
LOUISIANA – A toddler, aged 1 year and 9 months, died after being left inside a hot car for over nine hours. The incident took place on June 8 and led to the arrest of the child’s father, 32-year-old Joseph Boatman, who has been charged with second-degree murder.
According to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, Boatman picked up his daughter from a relative’s house around 2:30 a.m. After placing her in a car seat, he returned inside his home and never went back to check on her. Authorities believe that Boatman had consumed several alcoholic drinks that night, which may have impaired his ability to think clearly and resulted in this tragic mistake.
It wasn’t until around noon that a family member realized the child was missing and contacted the authorities. When officers arrived, they found the toddler unresponsive inside the vehicle, and she was later pronounced dead. That day, temperatures in Madisonville reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit, with a heat index of 105 degrees. Experts explain that when a child is left in a vehicle on such hot days, the situation can turn fatal within minutes.
Sheriff Randy Smith described the situation as a devastating loss that no family should ever have to endure. He explained that leaving a child in a car under these conditions can quickly lead to death, especially when temperatures rise above 100 degrees. In this case, impaired judgment led to a heartbreaking outcome.
Boatman remains in custody, with his bail set at $750,000, which is around ₱42 million. This tragic case is already the fifth child death in the United States this year caused by being left in a hot car, according to KidsAndCars.org. On average, 38 children die in hot cars each year across the U.S., and most of them are 3 years old or younger.