2-year-old girl dies in hot car
By Karla Ward - kward1@herald-leader.com A 2-year-old girl died in a hot car on North Upper Street in Lexington Saturday evening.

The baby, whose identity is not being released by police, and two other children were being cared for by grandparents while their father was at work.

They had been out and returned to the home at 530 N. Upper. The grandparents took one of the older children, a 12-year-old, into the home to deal with an issue she was having and thought that the other child was getting the 2-year-old out, said Lt. Scott Blakely of the Lexington police.

After about two hours, he said, they discovered that the toddler was still in the car.

Police were called to the scene at 5:39 p.m. and performed CPR.

The child was then taken to the University of Kentucky Hospital and was later pronounced dead.

Blakely said the investigation is continuing, and he did not know yet whether charges will be filed.

The temperature in Lexington reached 89 degrees Saturday.

About 340 children died of heat exhaustion in vehicles over a 10-year period, according to a 2007 story by the Associated Press.

Among them were several Kentucky children.

Bryan Puckett was 11 months old when his babysitter, Karen Murphy, left him in a car in the Mist Lake Plaza on Richmond Road in 1999.

His death led the legislature to enact Bryan’s Law, which automatically defines as second-degree manslaughter the crime of leaving a child in a vehicle, if the child dies.

Nine-month-old Daniel Jewell died in 2005, after his father, Leon Jewell, left him in the family’s SUV.

Jewell, who had been drinking the day of the baby’s death, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter.