Two under investigation after toddler, infant found in extreme heat

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One of two suspects is in custody after deputies with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office found a toddler in a hot car and an infant outside in extreme heat conditions on Monday afternoon.

According to the sheriff’s office, callers reported a car pulled onto the shoulder of the W Highway bridge near Smithville Lake, and a man possibly assaulting someone.

Upon arrival, deputies found the parked car with a few doors open, and a toddler strapped in a car seat. Deputies said there was not a person in sight.

The child was said to have been “red and sweating profusely” with indoor car thermometers reading 100 to 102 degrees.

Deputies took the boy into one of their air-conditioned cars and attempted to give him water while waiting for emergency responders to arrive.

As the toddler was being cared for, other deputies searched the area and found a man and woman passed out on a blanket near the lake with an infant sleeping between them. Deputies said the baby appeared pale and lethargic, and the man and woman smelled and appeared intoxicated.

Deputies took the baby into an air-conditioned car and asked the suspects if they knew where the toddler was. After saying they did not, deputies found large amounts of alcohol in their possession.

The children were taken to a hospital and are now in the custody of the Missouri Children’s Division.

“It can get hot enough to kill a kid inside a car in 10 to 20 minutes in temperatures like we had on Monday,” said Sarah Boyd with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. “It’s so dangerous right now to leave a child in the car, pet in the car, even for a brief amount of time even with the windows cracked.”

As for the two suspects, the woman was taken to a hospital for dehydration, and the man was booked into the Clay County Detention Center.

The case has been turned over to the Clay County Prosecutor’s Office for review.

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