LOGAN COX - 3 yo (7/2014) - Lancaster NC

by mom_in_il Tue Jul 08, 2014 8:08 pm

N.C. toddler dies days after being found in hot car

Dan Yesenosky, WCNC
1:56 p.m. CDT July 7, 2014

LANCASTER, N.C. — A 3-year-old boy died four days after he was trapped in his family's car on the hottest day of the year so far.

Logan Cox, who had been missing for less than an hour Wednesday before he was found in a parked car in front of the family's home, died Sunday of heatstroke, according to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C.

"I know it was an accident," said Logan's grandfather, Jimmy Clevinger. "My daughter was laying on the couch with him watching TV and my wife was in the bedroom."

Investigators with the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office say Logan left the home without his mother knowing it, got into the car with the family's dog and somehow got trapped inside.

The dog also succumbed to the heat, Clevinger said.

Investigators say the toddler was missing for between 30 minutes to an hour before his mother found him in the car.

"He knows how to unlock these cars 'cause he'll sit and play; he's watched when they hit the button for the locks," his grandfather said. "He had got out of the house, got in the car. It was so hot in there and it overtook him."

Last week, Clevinger said Logan hadn't been in the hot car for long when the family found him.

"Anywhere from 15, 15 to 20 minutes, if that," Clevinger said.

Logan was airlifted to the hospital after he was taken out of the car. Family members said Friday that he was expected to be released Monday. In Florida, 4-month-old Briell Graver survived nearly 3½ hours in a hot van when her mother forgot to bring her inside; she went home from the hospital Sunday.

Logan's death is at least the 14th so far this year after children were left in vehicles or climbed in and were trapped — the fifth of a child who got into a car — according to KidsAndCars.org, a non-profit child-safety organization that monitors news sites and police reports involving children and vehicle accidents. Last year 44 children died.

The Lancaster County Sheriff's Office had no comment Sunday night. The sheriff's department and social services still are investigating.

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/07/north-carolina-toddler-hot-car-death/12301289/