Texas Baby Dies After Being Left in Car

Associated Press Writer

HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) - A 2-month-old girl died after being left inside a sweltering parked car while her mother was in a Target store applying for a job, police said.

After consulting prosecutors, police charged 24-year-old July Vreeland with abandoning-endangering a child Wednesday. Vreeland was in jail Wednesday night.

Police were still trying to determine how long the child had been in the car Wednesday afternoon.

``We'll continue our investigation by interviewing her and her relatives as we wait for the autopsy report,'' said Harlingen police Lt. A.R. Garcia.

Police and witnesses described the child's mother as distraught.

A passer-by called 911 after hearing a woman scream upon approaching her car, a dark late-model Mitsubishi sedan. The caller saw a lifeless infant inside the vehicle.

The outside temperature was 93 degrees, Garcia said, and while police did not measure the car's interior temperature, cars can quickly heat up to 140 degrees.

Garcia said that if convicted, Vreeland could be sentenced to between two and 20 years in state prison, depending on what level of the charge prosecutors pursue.

As of July 2002, researchers had identified at least 150 children who had died since 1996 as the result of being left or trapped in a hot, parked vehicle.

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      Texas Baby Dies After Being Left in Car

Two-Month-Old Baby Girl in Texas Dies in Sweltering Car While Mother Applies for Job

The Associated Press

HARLINGEN, Texas July 31 —

A 2-month-old girl died after being left inside a sweltering parked car while her mother was in a Target store applying for a job, police said.

After consulting prosecutors, police charged 24-year-old July Vreeland with abandoning-endangering a child Wednesday. Vreeland was in jail Wednesday night.

Police were still trying to determine how long the child had been in the car Wednesday afternoon.

"We'll continue our investigation by interviewing her and her relatives as we wait for the autopsy report," said Harlingen police Lt. A.R. Garcia.

Police and witnesses described the child's mother as distraught.

A passer-by called 911 after hearing a woman scream upon approaching her car, a dark late-model Mitsubishi sedan. The caller saw a lifeless infant inside the vehicle.

The outside temperature was 93 degrees, Garcia said, and while police did not measure the car's interior temperature, cars can quickly heat up to 140 degrees.

Garcia said that if convicted, Vreeland could be sentenced to between two and 20 years in state prison, depending on what level of the charge prosecutors pursue.

As of July 2002, researchers had identified at least 150 children who had died since 1996 as the result of being left or trapped in a hot, parked vehicle.