14-month-old granddaughter dies after grandmother leaves girl in parked SUV for 8 hours, police say
A 14-month-old girl was found dead in the back seat of an SUV on Monday after, police said, her grandmother forgot to drop the toddler off at a Smithtown day care.
Instead the woman went to work, leaving the toddler alone in the parked 2018 Jeep Cherokee for about eight hours, Suffolk police said.
Suffolk County police have not released the identities of the toddler or the grandmother, but said the woman is 54 years old and from Greenlawn.
Police did not provide the location of the job.
But, police said, after work the woman got into the Jeep and drove to the day care center on Redwood Lane in Smithtown. The woman only realized her granddaughter had been left in the car seat after arriving at the day care center about 4:20 p.m., police said.
Police said the toddler was then taken to Saint Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, where she was pronounced dead.
Nationwide, 33 children died from heatstroke in vehicles in 2022, and 14 child hot car deaths have been reported this year, according to the National Safety Council. In New York, 11 children have died from heatstroke in vehicles since 1998, the safety council said.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
