A community in New York is mourning the loss of a 14-month-old child who died after being left in a hot car, with family members holding a candlelight vigil in the parking lot where she was found, reports say.
The Suffolk County Police Department said the infant was discovered “unattended in a hot car for approximately eight hours” on Monday near the Long Island Railroad station in Smithtown.
“A 54-year-old Greenlawn woman forgot to drop off her 14-month-old granddaughter at day care on July 31 and went to work, leaving the child in a car seat in a back seat,” investigators said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Approximately eight hours later, the woman went to pick up the child at the day care, located on Redwood Lane in Smithtown, when she realized she had left the child in her vehicle, a 2018 Jeep Cherokee.
“The child was transported to Saint Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown where she was pronounced dead,” the statement added.
A candlelight vigil was held at the Smithtown Long Island Rail Road station this week following a child’s hot car death. (Google Maps)
Police have not released the name of the child.
Video captured by NBC New York later showed candles and stuffed toys placed around a parking spot at the train station in Smithtown.
The station identified the mother of the child as Jessica Watkins.
“I know you’re going to be my guardian angel and I love you until we meet again baby,” Watkins was heard telling those gathered at the candlelight vigil.
“Now that she has gone, she has left a hole in everybody’s heart I’m sure, because that little girl touched so many people,” another family member added in footage captured by News 12 Long Island.
FLORIDA BABYSITTER ARRESTED AFTER 10-MONTH INFANT DIES WHILE LEFT IN HOT CAR
Temperatures in Smithtown reached a high of 82 degrees on Monday, according to the website Weather Underground.
A GoFundMe has been set up for Watkins in the wake of the death.
“Whatever you do big or small in any way possible will be greatly appreciated. And we also ask that you keep US ALL IN YOUR PRAYERS as we all try to process this profound loss,” it reads.
A baby is handed through a broken windshield after being rescued from a hot car. According to Kids and Car Safety, 15 children across the U.S. have died this year as a result of being left inside hot cars. (@lindahdz91/LOCAL NEWS X /TMX)
A total of 15 children have died across the U.S. after being left in hot cars this year, according to the nonprofit Kids and Car Safety.
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The most recent incident before this one was on July 19 in Macclenny, Florida, where a babysitter was arrested following the death of a 10-month-old girl who police say was left in a hot car on a day when temperatures rose into the high 90s.
