TPD: Mother on shift when 11-month-old died in
car at hospice facility, no arrest made
A mother who worked for Big Bend Hospice
"inadvertently left her 11-month-old son" in her vehicle
during her entire shift before the baby boy was found
dead Tuesday afternoon, according to the Tallahassee
Police Department.
"At the conclusion of her
shift, the mother discovered her child was still in the
vehicle and unresponsive," read a TPD incident analysis.
"Sadly, the child was pronounced deceased on-scene."
Officers responded to the parking lot of Big Bend
Hospice, 1723 Mahan Center Blvd., at approximately 2:17
p.m., a TPD spokesperson Heather Merritt told the
Democrat. She said employees of the medical facility
"called 911 regarding the child in the vehicle."
As of Wednesday afternoon, no arrests have been made and
the investigation remains ongoing.
An autopsy and
toxicology report will be performed to determine the
exact cause of the boy's death, the TPD the synopsis
read. Detectives are continuing to conduct interviews
and comb through evidence.
Police have not yet
definitively confirmed the death as heatstroke.
Bill Wertman, the CEO of Big Bend Hospice, did not
provide any details of the incident, but said the
facility's bereavement program is providing grief
counseling for staff.
"What we're looking at is
a tragedy, plain and simple," he said.
If
confirmed, this would be the 11th pediatric vehicular
heatstroke death in the United States this year and the
second in Florida, according to NoHeatStroke.org, a
website that tracks hot car deaths throughout the
country. Last year, there were 23 deaths, three of which
were in Florida.
Once the investigation is
wrapped up, detectives will present their findings to
the State Attorney’s Office for a decision on potential
charges, according to TPD.