A three-year-old boy has died after becoming trapped inside a hot car in Houston, Texas Thursday.
Houston police say the parents of Evan Trapolino weren’t aware he was even in the vehicle until it was too late.
Police and EMS responded to a 911 call around 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon. When they arrived they found the family of Trapolino desperately performing CPR on the boy, who was unresponsive.
The boy was rushed to Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Caught on Camera: Firefighters and pedestrians rescue baby trapped inside hot car
Houston police say Trapolino’s parents told them the boy wandered out the front door without their knowledge and entered the family vehicle through the front door, possibly attempting to retrieve a toy from the backseat.
Once there, they believe the boy was unable to get out of the car due to the child safety locks. Evan’s family told police they searched for him for between 30 and 45 minutes before finding him inside the car and calling 911.
A Houston police spokesperson told KHOU News that the investigation is ongoing but police do not expect to press any charges against the boy’s family at this time.
Child Protective Services has been notified as per the usual protocol for these sort of events.
The Houston area was under a heat advisory at the time Evan became trapped inside the car, with temperatures reaching a high of 35 C that afternoon.
First responders are hoping to use this tragic case as a warning for parents.
“But the other situation that we sometimes see is that kids will get into a car and they’ll be playing around the car and they’ll accidentally lock it and the child will panic and they don’t know how to unlock the car.”