FARGO -- Police are considering criminal charges against a mother who left her 4-year-old son sleeping in a shut-off car with the windows rolled up Friday outside a Fargo Walmart store as she and her other children shopped inside.
Lt. Joel Vettel said officers who responded to the call at 10:10 a.m. at 4731 13th Ave. S. tried to wake the boy by pounding on the windows of the locked car, but he didn't wake up.
With the sun shining and the outside temperature in the 70s, officers became concerned that the temperature inside the car was much hotter and that hyperthermia may have already set in, Vettel said. Rather than wait for a locksmith, they broke one of the car's windows, and the child woke up, he said.
Paramedics tended to the boy and found that he was fine, Vettel said.
Cass County Social Services is investigating to determine the boy's welfare, and police will decide whether to seek child neglect or other charges against the mother, Vettel said.
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"It appears that she just in good faith left the child sleeping because she didn't want to disturb the child, but obviously made a very poor judgment call," he said. "Even at 75 degrees, within 20 minutes, the car is well over 100 (degrees)."
Police were still trying to determine how long the boy was in the car alone, Vettel said, adding it was less than an hour, but still a "significant amount of time."
The number of U.S. child hyperthermia deaths has averaged 38 per year since 1998, according to a San Francisco State University study, The study also found that children's thermoregulatory systems aren't as efficient as an adult's and their body temperatures warm at a rate three to five times faster than an adult's.
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