3-year-old girl found unresponsive in hot car hours after family trip to park, police say

PHOENIX (KTVK/KPHO/Gray News) - Police in Arizona say a 3-year-old girl died after she was found unresponsive in a car, the internal temperature of which reached at least 130 degrees.

Buckeye Police were called around 5 p.m. Sunday with a report that a 3-year-old girl was found unresponsive in a car parked outside a home, according to AZ Family.

Investigators say a big family had gotten into a mini SUV and drove to a neighborhood park before returning home between 2 and 2:30 p.m. A couple hours later, the family realized the 3-year-old was missing and checked the car just before 5 p.m. They called police when they found her unresponsive inside.

Police attempted life-saving measures before taking the girl to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

“Calls like these are difficult for everyone involved: the families, the first responders and the community. Nobody wants to hear this news,” said Buckeye Police Public Information Officer Carissa Planalp. “In this extreme heat, temperatures are nothing to play with, and time is absolutely of the essence.”

Police say the temperature outside when the girl was found was 107 degrees, and the car’s internal temperature was 130 degrees.

Detectives are working on conducting interviews with the family to put together a timeline of events. No one is in custody or detained.

This is the 30th child hot car death in the nation and the third in Arizona this year, according to data from Kids and Car Safety.

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Buckeye Police initially said the girl was 4 years old but later corrected the age to 3.