CARTHAGE, Mo. – The Carthage Police Dept have submitted the findings of their investigation to the prosecutor regarding the hot car death of a 3-year-old girl last week.
Lieut Jeff Pinnell tells KOAM’s Shannon Becker, as of now, no charges have been filed.
Last Friday Carthage Police responded to a home in the 100 block of North Maple. A child was found unresponsive inside a hot vehicle.
| RELATED >> Carthage Child found unresponsive in hot vehicle has died
The investigation shows the child entered the vehicle on her own and could not get back out he says.
The girl died in a Springfield hospital the following day.
She was the 16th child hot car death of 2022 according to unofficial estimates.
HOT CAR DEATHS 2022
Experts say almost all of these deaths occurring in “nontraffic incidents” are preventable. Many watchdog groups are pushing for technology to be implemented in new vehicles to prevent hot car death.
Wednesday a child in Fort Smith, Ark. died after being discovered in a hot vehicle. The child was rushed to a hospital and died shortly thereafter. Arkansas authorities are awaiting the findings of an autopsy by the State Medical Examiner. It could be the 18th death attributed to a hot car.
According to the National non-profit group Kids and Car Safety, 2021 had 23 children die in a vehicle due to heatstroke.
This is a breaking news story. Stay with Joplin News First on KOAM News Now as we continue to learn more. Scroll below and sign up for our JLNews1st email list so you don’t miss an article.