‘Gut-wrenching’: New Jersey toddler found dead in hot car, police say

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A 2-year-old New Jersey girl died on Tuesday after being left in a vehicle as temperatures reached 90 degrees, authorities said.

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According to the Franklin Township Police Department, the incident occurred outside a home at about 2:30 p.m. EDT, WABC-TV reported.

Police responded to a call of a child in cardiac arrest, and officers arrived as a neighbor, who is a member of a local fire department, was administering CPR on the unresponsive girl, according to the television station.

The girl was pronounced dead at the scene, NJ.com reported. Her identity has not been released.

The air temperature recorded at nearby Somerset Airport was 90 degrees shortly before 2 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. It was unclear how long the child had been left unattended in the vehicle.

According to a news release from Kids and Car Safety, the girl was the 22nd child to die in a hot car nationwide this year and the first in New Jersey. Since 1998, there have been 14 hot car deaths in New Jersey, the organization said.

“They were just screaming in pain and anguish,” Treana Huntley told WABC, referring to the toddler’s parents. “I heard the dad screaming uncontrollably, and then I heard the mom start wailing, really sobbing.”

“It was gut-wrenching. It almost made me want to break into tears, as a mother. Just hearing that pain from another mother, it was very hurtful to hear. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”

An autopsy is scheduled to determine the child’s cause and manner of death, NJ.com reported.

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