GABRIELLA LUONG - 11 months - Homewood, AL

'I wish I was in that car seat': Mother's guilt after baby daughter died when she left her in a hot SUV for THREE HOURS just days before her first birthday
By Snejana Farberov
PUBLISHED: 22:36 EST, 18 July 2013 | UPDATED: 02:46 EST, 19 July 2013


A one-year-old girl from Alabama has died after being locked for nearly three hours inside an overheated SUV - and her heartbroken mother blames herself for the tragedy.

Police in the Birmingham suburb of Homewood say 11-month-old Gabriella Gi-Ny Luong was found inside her mother’s white Lexus SUV Wednesday afternoon before being rushed to Children's of Alabama.

According to officers, the girl's temperature was about 105 degrees when they arrived, and the temperature inside the vehicle was about 130 degrees.





Family tragedy: Baby Gabriella Gi-Ny Luong was rushed to an Alabama hospital, where she died after spending three hours inside a hot car





Scorcher: The toddler was found inside her mother's white Lexus SUV, where the interior temperature was just under 130 degrees


Tragedy struck just before 1.30pm Wednesday when Katie Luong approached her SUV parked on 19th Street and Oxmoor Road on Homewood, only to discover her baby daughter unresponsive inside. The child was still strapped into her car seat.

First responders who arrived on the scene attempted to revive little Gabrielle before taking her to Children's of Alabama hospital, where she was pronounced dead a short time later.

According to a local business owner, the child's family operate Genesis Nail Spa. Her mother, 31-year-old Katie Luong, usually takes the daughter to a day care center, but on that morning, she had too many things on her mind.

The witness said that the toddler was locked inside the vehicle from 10.30am to 1.30pm. The temperature outside was around 91 degrees that day, but inside the car it was closer to 130, police said.





Left behind: Baby Gabriella was still strapped into her car seat when her frantic mother arrived on the scene





Hardworking family: Katie Luong and her family own Genesis Nail Spa, and her husband also operates a seminary


On Thursday, Gabriella's mother stated to AL.com that she blames no one but herself for her daughter's death.

‘I want to tell everybody that I wish I was in that car seat, not her,’ Katie Luong said. ‘If I had to die for her to live, I would have done that.’

The inconsolable mother explained that she was supposed to drop her daughter off at a babysitter's house Wednesday but was preoccupied by thoughts of an employee who recently hung himself and a close family friend who had a stroke and is still hospitalized.

Luong said she and her husband were also in the midst of planning Gabriella’s first birthday party for Sunday, which only added to her stress.





Horrible loss: Katie Luong's family and friends described her as a doting and loving mother





Outpouring of support: A makeshift memorial has sprung up outside the couple's business, with friends and strangers alike leaving flowers, stuffed animals and notes offering their condolences




‘I had an uneasy feeling,’' she said. ‘I told my mom I felt like something was going to happen.’

After visiting her husband at the nail salon, Luong continued about her day, heading to work. It was not until she got a call from her daughter’s babysitter at around 1.15pm asking her why she had failed to bring Ella over as planned that the mother realized what happened.

The frantic woman dashed over to her car, only to find her daughter’s limp body strapped into her seat.

Chris Conn, who works at a nearby fitness center, rushed over to help and attempted to perform CPR on the little girl.  

‘Her body was radiating heat,’ he recalled to CBS42, putting the child’s body temperature at about 105 degrees.

Little Gabriella, know to her loved ones as Ella, was Luong's miracle baby. She and her husband had tried for years to conceive, but she only became pregnant following a collective prayer at the couple’s church.

The overjoyed couple decided to name their firstborn after the archangel Gabriel, and her birth had even inspired her father to open a seminary.

‘I asked God for this baby,’ Luong said. ‘She was our gift from God.’



Summer threat: The number of children who have died in hot cars this year in the U.S. currently stands at 21





National breakdown: The map shows the death toll across the U.S. (provided by kidsandcars.org)

Those who know the couple have described them as extremely doting and loving parents, and devout Christians. Mrs Luong has expressed hope that her faith will carry her through this tragedy.

Gabriella is the 21st child to die inside a hot car this year alone, CBS News reported. On average, about 37 kids lose their lives in this manner a year, according to Jan Null, a certified consulting meteorologist at San Francisco State University.

Since 1998, a total of 582 children have fallen victim to heat stroke after being left inside cars. Just over half of those fatalities were caused by caregivers forgetting the kids in the car.

In 18 per cent of the instances, the children were deliberately locked inside cars.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2369996/I-wish-I-car-seat-Mothers-agony-baby-daughter-dies-left-inside-hot-SUV-THREE-HOURS-just-days-birthday.html#ixzz2ZUgdOjYw

2011 and 2012 are not shown on the chart but they were both record breaking years for deaths.

These deaths have been occurring more and more since baby seats are placed in the back and rear facing.  Some states and cities will charge the person responsible some won't.  I have mixed feelings on whether they should be charged.  Everyone has moments of memory lapse.

http://www.kidsandcars.org/

"Look before you lock" the car.  NEVER assume the child is not in the car.
Keep your purse in the back with the child.  Use a teddy bear.  Move it to the front seat when the child is in the child seat.

That web site has a number of stories of such cases.  Even a loving, caring family member can forget.  Usually in a break from the normal routine.  Children can't cope with temperature like adults so it does not take that long.  Sometimes 15 minutes in a hot car is all it takes for brain damage.

Keep your angels safe.