[fsy82]

A 16-month-old boy is dead after being left in a hot car in Burnaby on Thursday.

According to Acting Burnaby Fire Chief Dave Younger, firefighters were called to the 5600-block of Inman Avenue around 5:20 p.m., to reports of child locked in a vehicle.

READ MORE: Safety checklist: How to keep your child safe from heat stroke in cars

Burnaby RCMP says the child was unconscious when first responders arrived. Sources tell Global News the boy was left in the vehicle for nine hours.

According to police, the boy’s father was located at the scene, and both parents are cooperating with the investigation.

“It’s absolutely heartbreaking, it’s a tragedy, it has ripple effects throughout the community,” said Chief Supt. Deanne Burleigh, Officer in Charge of the Burnaby RCMP.

Burleigh said police were in the very early stages of the investigation and canvassing the neighbourhood and could not provide more details about the case.

“As with any tragedy like this, I can’t imagine how the parents are coping. As a parent myself I can’t imagine how I would cope. So we have provided victim services, they are surrounded by friends and family,” she said.

The BC Coroners Service is also investigating. Police said no one has been arrested in the incident.

Younger said when crews arrived, paramedics were removing the child from the vehicle.

The infant was transported to hospital in critical condition by paramedics, with firefighters assisting with CPR.

BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) said four units, including an advanced life support unit, arrived on scene within four minutes of receiving the call.

“With this kind of weather we’re having, yesterday we had record highs, this definitely wouldn’t be a time to leave your child at all in the car, or an animal, or anything,” said Younger.

“Very scary thing.”

Burleigh said police are pleading with the public not to leave their children alone in their vehicles in the warm weather.

“When you’re transporting your children in a vehicle, please check the vehicle and ensure that you have delivered your child and that they’re no longer in the vehicle when you’re parked and you’ve gone off to do your business for the day.”

Experts say it can take just 20 minutes for the interior of a vehicle to reach extreme temperatures on a warm day.

According to safety website kidsandcars.org, 52 children died of heatstroke in cars across the U.S. in 2018, and nine have lost their lives already in 2019.

https://globalnews.ca/news/5263497/child-dies-hot-car-burnaby/?utm_medium=Facebook&utm_source=GlobalBC

[Bouncing Bettys]

9 hours suggests to me that the parent forgot he was in there and went to work, rather than an irresponsible parent thinking he would be fine while running some errands.

Driving and commuting can become so routine that your brain goes on auto pilot. Children, especially so young, can become so quiet as they sleep that you would think they had died. Even now I still have a moment of panic when checking in on my sleeping son and not immediately noticing him breathing. So he likely didn't make a peep for the parent to hear when exiting the vehicle.

But the pitchforks are already out on social media without knowing the facts. I can't imagine what those parents are going through.

[LightKeeper]

Very sad news. RIP

[320icar]

9 hours suggests to me that the parent forgot he was in there and went to work, rather than an irresponsible parent thinking he would be fine while running some errands.

Driving and commuting can become so routine that your brain goes on auto pilot. Children, especially so young, can become so quiet as they sleep that you would think they had died. Even now I still have a moment of panic when checking in on my sleeping son and not immediately noticing him breath. So he likely didn't make a peep for the parent to hear as he got out of the vehicle.

But the pitchforks are already out on social media without knowing the facts. I can't imagine what those parents are going through.

Maybe I’m not reading it correctly? But are you defending the idea of a parent forgetting their CHILD in a car long enough to die?

https://pics.me.me/abc-news-suggested-that-parents-put-something-important-in-the-35068345.png

[whitev70r]

Parents are idiots. Period.

If there are any reasonable explanations for this, I will come back and eat crow. But for now, verdict is pure stupidity and fail.

[Razor Ramon HG]

Maybe I’m not reading it correctly? But are you defending the idea of a parent forgetting their CHILD in a car long enough to die?

He is not defending the parent. He is saying that he can understand how these things as sad as they are can happen.

[IMASA]

Non-parents are going to point fingers and play the blame game.
Parents are going to empathize and hug their kids tighter.
Parents of young kids know how tiring, stressful it can be, and the lack of sleep doesn't help.

I'm pretty scatter brained, often worrying about work projects, meetings, presentations and forgetting things like my lunch, phone, coffee at home on the way to work.
Like damn, I drive near the airport to work and even on days off when I'm supposed to drive my parents to the airport, I almost take my daily route to work instead.

I'm terrified that this could happen to me one day since I don't routinely drive my son to his daycare. I try to remind myself by putting his bag in the front seat and make a habit of always checking the rear seats when I leave the car.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.dfbd6a24c4b5


What kind of person forgets a baby?

The wealthy do, it turns out. And the poor, and the middle class. Parents of all ages and ethnicities do it. Mothers are just as likely to do it as fathers. It happens to the chronically absent-minded and to the fanatically organized, to the college-educated and to the marginally literate. In the last 10 years, it has happened to a dentist. A postal clerk. A social worker. A police officer. An accountant. A soldier. A paralegal. An electrician. A Protestant clergyman. A rabbinical student. A nurse. A construction worker. An assistant principal. It happened to a mental health counselor, a college professor and a pizza chef. It happened to a pediatrician. It happened to a rocket scientist.

[68style]

The ONE time someone leaves something super valuable in a car in Burnaby and it doesn't get broken into.

That's some sad news no matter what the cause... poor kid never got a chance.

[MarkyMark]

Perhaps if you have a baby in the back leave your cellphone in the sleeve behind your driver seat, I guarantee you'll remember you forgot your phone within 10 minutes.

[fliptuner]

Cut his balls off, so he never reproduces.

[dachinesedude]

how is it possible to leave your kid somewhere for 9 hours and forget about it, regardless of location? it's two of them too, what are the chances that both "forgot"?

[rsx10]

how is it possible to leave your kid somewhere for 9 hours and forget about it, regardless of location? it's two of them too, what are the chances that both "forgot"?

Could be as easy as a miscommunication. How many time have all of you thought or said something and got misinterpreted.

[underscore]

Now that I have a kid I get that chaos that ensues and how a kid could potentially be left in the vehicle (and it doesn't take long to be fatal), but I don't get how a kid could be basically missing for 9 hours without anyone noticing. Assuming the dad was supposed to bring him to a grandparents or daycare it seems pretty strange that whoever was supposed to be caring for him didn't notice that he wasn't there.

Regardless, the whole cellphone in the back seat thing sounds kinda stupid at first glance but really being in the habit of putting something you need every day in the back seat every single day (not just when you have the kid) is a good idea. I already put my laptop in the seat behind me every day out of habit so I wouldn't be able to go into work without opening the back door every day when I get there. Shorter trips are the scary ones because it's hard to think of anything you'd bring in the grocery store that I'd notice missing immediately.

[freakshow]

Non-parents are going to point fingers and play the blame game.
Parents are going to empathize and hug their kids tighter.
Parents of young kids know how tiring, stressful it can be, and the lack of sleep doesn't help.
I'm a parent of a 2yo and have one due in 3 weeks. I'm definitely going to point the finger. Unless more facts come out, whichever parent left the kid in the car needs to go to jail. This would be a nice addition as well:


Cut his balls off, so he never reproduces.

[whitev70r]

For those who suggest leaving a phone in the backseat ... WTH has this world come to if people can remember that they left a phone in their car and not their toddler ??!! Can we please institute a basic intelligence test before we let people start having children.

[Bouncing Bettys]

For those who suggest leaving a phone in the backseat ... WTH has this world come to if people can remember that they left a phone in their car and not their toddler ??!! Can we please institute a basic intelligence test before we let people start having children.
Some of the most intelligent, well educated, accomplished people in the world are also absent minded and forgetful. The Absent Minded Professor wasn't just a work of fiction based purely on imagination. Professors earned the reputation of being so engrossed in their work that they would be forgetful with everything else in life. So I don't see how an intelligence test would have prevented this death, assuming it was a case of such.

[twitchyzero]

i can't fathom how this occurred unless you're brain dead

16mos old require attention 25/8 whether to go to the potty, change diapers etc

if A toddler under your direct supervision isn't on your mind every minute, you screwed up...anyone with a normal mental capacity has zero excuse/empathy for forgetting a life

[hotjoint]

I don't understand how ANYONE could leave a child in a car for that long. Would love to hear the explanation from the parents

[whitev70r]

Absentminded
lost in thought and unaware of one's surroundings or actions

Negligence, carelessness, neglect(noun)
failure to act with the prudence that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstances

Absentmindedness is forgetting whether you turned your car lights off. Negligence is forgetting your child (or anything living like a pet) in a car. There is a f'king difference.

[MG1]

Rest In Peace, little one.............

Namo Amida Butsu

[meme405]

I can't believe were having this conversation.

"Lack of sleep"?
"Stressful"?
"Forgot"?

It's a living fucking thing you popped out of your vagina, how do you forget about it. It's not a cell phone or a 5th bag of groceries you can "forget" about.

Parents should be buried underneath the prison.

RIP Sweet Prince.

[danned]

the way to shut up your kids

[StylinRed]

I imagine the father had to go to work, and there was no one to care for the kid, so he thought leaving the kid in the car on his own would be fine... and he didn't check on his kid, or checked on him during his break, and thought the kid was napping, or the kid was still fine when he checked on him.

What a fucking idiot, the pain they must be going through now (if it wasn't done maliciously) I can't even imagine wow

[Ch28]

For those who suggest leaving a phone in the backseat ... WTH has this world come to if people can remember that they left a phone in their car and not their toddler ??!! Can we please institute a basic intelligence test before we let people start having children.

I can't believe we live in a world where people consider a phone a 'valuable item' that is on par/higher value than your own fucking child.

Jesus christ.

[vitaminG]

Lots of judgement and assumptions in this thread. The cellphone is something you are accustomed to having on you at all times, a baby is not. Simple as that, nobody is suggesting a phone is more valuable than a baby.

[320icar]

no one is suggesting a phone is more valuable than a baby.

Exactly. I can get 4, maybe 5 iPhone X for one average baby on the black market

[Ch28]

Lots of judgement and assumptions in this thread. The cellphone is something you are accustomed to having on you at all times, a baby is not. Simple as that, nobody is suggesting a phone is more valuable than a baby.

Judgement that is entirely justified.

The fact that the media and people alike are suggesting that parents place objects that they deem important to their every day life in the back seat (wallet, keys, phone, etc) as a reminder that their small child is in the back is absolutely ludicrous.

[akira112]

A lot of non-parents here.

[whitev70r]

A lot of non-parents here.

Lot of judgment and assumption right there.

Maybe the only explanation that would absolve parents is if they did not know and it was the nanny or something. But that just transfers the disgust to whoever it was that was so stupid and negligent.

[Hondaracer]

Gotta be a parent to understand dat killing a baby via overheating is bad :drunk:

[NKC ONE]

At the end of the day, it is the parents who lost a child and not us. Us pointing fingers and making assumptions isn't going to be any where near the world of hurt they are going thru. Unless it was intentional, no punishment given to them will be equal to their loss. RIP little one.

[twitchyzero]

other than minding the guilt, why shouldn't the community be outraged?

someone was negligent resulting in the death of a toddler

should we also be empathetic for people who leave their dogs to die of heat exhaustion?

damn, a lot of non pet-owners in here

[sexyaccord]

https://youtu.be/D_iXa4e4JXQ?t=43

should've gotten a Santa Fe, relevant commercial!



but on a serious note, poor kid

[supafamous]

Every time this happens the pitchforks come out for the parents and while there are definitely cases of parents deliberately leaving their children in their cars there are plenty of cases where it's not negligence. Each year about 37 kids die in these circumstances (https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/03/health/hot-car-deaths-child-charts-graphs-trnd/index.html) - this isn't new and the Washington Post won a Pulitzer for their story on understanding why it happens (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html?fbclid=IwAR377moDf31q235kX RhW-lHD89DU3ytjDHQLtmdCHA57nSrlTUXteqktcVM&noredirect=on&utm_term=.85b22f010342)

This is really sad stuff but I think it's hard to be outraged after you get educated on the circumstances behind how it happens.

[Hondaracer]

37 kids in 2 countries that have almost 400 million people :/

Tbh I installed services for a couple junkies with a few kids and a baby who fits this age range who live very close to this location and I was concerned it was them tbh..

[twitchyzero]

and the 29yo old who blew a stop sign and killed a bunch of young hockey players was an honest mistake too (not DUI or distracted by a phone)

was that not negligence? you don't think he's scarred for life and will live every day with guilt?

[meme405]

and the 29yo old who blew a stop sign and killed a bunch of young hockey players was an honest mistake too (not DUI or distracted by a phone)

was that not negligence? you don't think he's scarred for life and will live every day with guilt?

Exactly.

Nothing stopped some of the very same people in here from saying he should be burned at the cross.

But now that it is a parent, and their own toddler all of a sudden I should feel sympathy for the parents? Nah, im cool. They were ignorant, and an innocent child they didn't deserve suffered. So yeah you can lock the parents up and throw the key away.

[GS8]

"Alexa, is there a child in my backseat?"

We'll be getting to this point soon...

--

Also, it's doubtful we'll know the identities of the parents but to observe them for five minutes should be indicative enough for us to know if they are already serving a life term...of guilt and regret. The type of guilt that will erode their bodies from the inside out. They will stew in their own suffering.

But who knows. The child was taken far too soon and under stupid circumstances. I always do a 360 of my car after I park it and return to it and I don't even have children.

Oh shit, I don't have children. Disregard EVERYTHING I just said.

[PeanutButter]

This is the definition of a tragedy =(

Regardless of the reason or your opinion, this is so sad.

[Raid3n]

you know leaving your kids in the back seat has gotten bad when my 2018 truck has a feature "rear seat reminder" that i assume will ding at you a bunch and give a message on the dash saying to check the rear seat when you turn it off...

[supafamous]

https://twitter.com/schmangee/status/1128383936420294656?s=21 - cue the outrage!

[MG1]

Any updates?

[J____]

how the fuck can you not notice your 1 year old is missing for over 9 hours..........

[Bouncing Bettys]

I was listening to Charles Adler on the way home from Vernon last night and he was discussing these cases. Some points he made:

- These cases took a sharp increase in the 90's. This is when child seats were moved to the back seat due to the inclusion of air bags. Then it was recommended to have them rear-facing. This makes it difficult to even see your child without more than a glance.

- over 40% of cases in North America have no charges pressed against the parent because of it being considered a tragic accident and the loss of the child being a lifetime of punishment.

- People of all walks of life, incomes, professions, the absentminded, the meticulous, the most loving/caring, etc are susceptible to this phenomenon.


My parent's old car used to have a chunk of the dashboard missing right in the middle because they mounted my child seat rear facing in the front middle of the bench seat. As I got older, we used to point at that missing chunk and laugh at how unsafe that was in light of more modern safety regulations. You should see some of the early child seat designs, especially in the pre-seatbelt days.

I know with my son's first daycare, after they mixed up the days I had booked off, they called by 10:30 asking if he was still coming in or not. That is over 2.5 hour from when he would have been dropped off until I was notified by them that he was not there yet. On a hot day, 2.5 hours is more than enough time to make a car interior fatal. He was of course safe on vacation with me. But at least there was a check.

Keeping attendance records and knowing the whereabouts of a child should be one of a daycare's highest priorities. Not only for the purposes of child care, but from a business perspective so they can get paid and to know how many staff are required for the day. I have to wonder why the daycare in a lot of these cases was not prompted to call the parents when the child had not shown up for the scheduled time. Perhaps they too should face consequences for not doing their due diligence.

[fliptuner]

Keeping attendance records and knowing the whereabouts of a child should be one of a daycare's highest priorities. Not only for the purposes of child care, but from a business perspective so they can get paid and to know how many staff are required for the day. I have to wonder why the daycare in a lot of these cases was not prompted to call the parents when the child had not shown up for the scheduled time. Perhaps they too should face consequences for not doing their due diligence.


How many daycares do you know, that charge by the day? Why would it be their responsibility, for a child that's not old enough to get there on their own? They have enough to worry about.

It's the parents fault, pure and simple.

[Bouncing Bettys]

How many daycares do you know, that charge by the day? Why would it be their responsibility, for a child that's not old enough to get there on their own? They have enough to worry about.

It's the parents fault, pure and simple.
Are you referring to drop-in daycares? I have no experience with them and wasn't speaking of them as I never really considered them to be an option for someone working an 8 hour day. I'm discussing long term daycare services: where there is a long wait list to get in, where the child is expected to be dropped off and picked up at certain times on certain days, where prior notice is required when there is a change in plans, where parent's must call by a certain time to let the daycare know they aren't coming and staff would call the parents to find out what is going on should that call not come, where parent's must notify staff when someone other than themselves is going to be picking up the child, etc. I would indeed be concerned in the practices of a daycare if they didn't inquire to my son's whereabouts if he was expected to be in their care that day.

One of the stories Charles Adler mentioned had a parent get into their vehicle after work and drive to the daycare expecting to pick up their kid, only to learn the kid was still in his rear-facing car seat and dead. How many of these deaths, where the child was expected to go to a daycare, could have been prevented if staff had made a call to a parent?

[Great68]

Agreed, it's just good practice by the daycares.
It goes beyond kids being left in cars, it also covers parental kidnapping situations etc.

[PeanutButter]

I think it's reasonable for any service industry where they are expecting people/persons to inquire about whereabouts.

ie. I was running late to a massage appointment and got a call from the reception asking where I was.
At school if my cousin didn't show up, there would be a call to the parents.

I would expect the same thing at a day care. Though, I feel calling is more of a systematic thing for a business and not necessarily warranted.

I can see this being less likely if people are on a monthly prepayment option. In that case, why would the establishment care if you showed up or not. The fact that you paid gives the business less of an incentive to inquire about participants.

[vitaminG]

I was listening to Charles Adler on the way home from Vernon last night and he was discussing these cases. Some points he made:


ot but charles adler is legit

[canali]

i suggest those quick to criticize or judge smugly ('it could never happen to me', or 'jail the motherfuckers')
to first google search 'forgotten baby syndrome' and then second,
(this is a must) read the many heartbreaking stories with an open mind..
here i'll make it easier: have a look and read ,scrolling right down the many titles
it's an eye opener for sure:
https://www.google.com/search?q=forgotten+baby+syndrome&oq=forgotten+baby&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.6362j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

it was an eyeopener for me when i first started, as i was like many, with the fire torch at hand to condemn them quickly.
some parents involved were lucky and came away shaken but aware with their kid still alive,
while others sadly were not and paid for it with a lifetime of PTSD, shame, guilt and depression etc.

Seems that there is a scientific reason as to what and why this horrible experience can occur
(not excusing it, but just to be more vigilante and warn others esp parents of newborns)...
even simply putting your cell/wallet in back seat beside your kid, or something you know you can't leave the car without can be
an effective strategy to avoid this potenitial life changing experience of endless heartbreak.

[Nlkko]

You shouldn't have kids if you have to rely on your daycare to remind you not to kill them in your backseat.

But keep making excuse for shitty "parents". Take some fucking responsibility. You are caring for a living thing who can't defend itself from your ineptitude. I've never forgotten my dogs let alone my kids. And I have forgotten my phones and wallets many many times.

"Forgotten baby syndrome".... More like "fucking irresponsible moron" syndrome.

[Hondaracer]

I tend to agree. Call it whatever you want, have a doctor try and attach syndrome to it etc.

In my entire life I’ve only lost my wallet and my phone once. Somthing I carry with me all day every day, and the night I lost both I’m pretty sure I was drugged.

Some how miraculously I manage to keep them with me and be responsible for them day in day out, I’m fuckin amazing!

[MarkyMark]

"Forgotten baby syndrome" - So many shitty parents have done it we have to make up a medical term for it.

I'm so happy my parents weren't born with the 'forgot the baby' gene.

[twitchyzero]

can't find any stats prior to 1998

is it a millennial parents phenomenon?

[fliptuner]

69 people die each year, in the US, from accidental shootings. I can't seem to find the name for that syndrome.

I'm indifferent to gun ownership and support safe use of firearms. I can find more legitimate excuses for someone getting shot, accidentally, than I can for someone forgetting their kids in a car.

[ScizzMoney]

Part of me feels that some of these parents actually want to rid themselves of their baby and this is the only way they somehow feel it's okay to go about doing it.

[belka]

other than minding the guilt, why shouldn't the community be outraged?

someone was negligent resulting in the death of a toddler

should we also be empathetic for people who leave their dogs to die of heat exhaustion?

damn, a lot of non pet-owners in here

Funny that you mention this, but I feel way more anger and outrage when I hear cases like these of a dog or pet left to die in a hot car. I don't feel any remorse when it's a kid, call it natural selection.

[twitchyzero]

Funny that you mention this, but I feel way more anger and outrage when I hear cases like these of a dog or pet left to die in a hot car. I don't feel any remorse when it's a kid, call it natural selection.


https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/074/372/31c.jpg

[Bouncing Bettys]

can't find any stats prior to 1998

is it a millennial parents phenomenon?
The various safety features and regulations introduced in the 90's, such as airbags, meant the safest place for the car seat was rear facing in the back seat. Before then, kids were dying in vehicle crashes at much higher rates. In essence, the efforts to improve passenger safety created a new set of problems.

In the US, laws for mandatory car seats were just being passed in the mid-late 80's. Even the position of Maggie Simpson's car seat and steering wheel next to Marge in the front seat during The Simpsons intro didn't seem so out of place back in 1989.

[twitchyzero]

i was sitting on my parents lap in the driver seat or standing on the center console sticking out the sunroof :fuckthatshit: