Toddler Dies in Hot Car as Mom Teaches Kids

Jamie Buckley didn't discover her 18-month-old until school let out
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 3, 2015 9:27 AM CDT
Toddler Dies in Hot Car as Mom Teaches Kids
Another hot-car tragedy.   (Shutterstock)

A Florida toddler died after being left in a hot car all day in an elementary school parking lot while her schoolteacher mom taught, reports Panama City's News Herald. Jamie Buckley told police she arrived at work yesterday between 7am and 7:30am and went inside the school, forgetting that 18-month-old Reagan was in the car. She says when she wrapped up that afternoon, she discovered her unresponsive daughter in the car. "The Bay County Sheriff's Office responded to Cedar Grove Elementary this afternoon at 3:15 in reference to a life threatening medical call," the sheriff's office Facebook page notes. "Deputies arrived to discover an 18 month old child that was not breathing." After EMS arrived, Reagan was pronounced dead.

USA Today reports that temps in Panama City reached nearly 84 degrees yesterday—which means temps inside Buckley's car could have soared higher than 130 degrees if it was in direct sunlight, per the NHTSA, which warns that "in warm weather, a vehicle can warm to dangerous, life-threatening levels in only 10 minutes." While the sheriff's office says charges have not been filed, the Washington Post notes commenters are once again mired in the debate about whether a conscientious parent could ever forget a child. "Leaving a child behind is not like leaving your purse or wallet in your car.....there is no excuse for this,” reads one comment on the sheriff's Facebook page; another commenter writes, "This can happen to anyone. Don't judge. … Pray for this teacher/mother. She will never forgive herself." (Two police dogs died last week in another Florida hot-car incident.)

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