Louisiana toddler found dead in car at Shreveport mobile home park

SHREVEPORT, La. — A Louisiana toddler was found dead in the back seat of a vehicle Thursday at a mobile home park in Shreveport, authorities said.

>> Read more trending news

According to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, 1-year-old Joseph Everett was left in the parked vehicle for several hours at the Forest Estate mobile home park, KTBS reported. Everett was found shortly after 3 p.m. CDT and was pronounced dead 10 minutes later, the television station reported.

Shreveport police are investigating the death to determine whether the incident is heat-related. Additional details about Everett’s death were not immediately available, WBRZ reported.

According to the Kids and Car Safety website, which classified Everett’s case as a hot car fatality, the boy’s death is the 23rd child to die in a hot car in the U.S. this year and the third in Louisiana during 2021.

On Aug. 20, a 1-year-old girl died in Baton Rouge, according to the website. On June 14, a 2-year-old boy died after being left in a hot car in New Iberia.

>> 2-year-old boy found dead in hot car in Louisiana

“It takes about an hour in a hot car, two hours in the shade, that was a lot of the documentation says for a child to develop a heatstroke when left unattended in a car,” Wanda Thomas, associate professor of pediatrics and associate dean for admissions at LSU Health Shreveport School of Medicine, told KSLA. “It gets really hot in cars and oftentimes, when children are left in a car unattended, the windows are up. And if the car is out in the sun and not in the shade, the temperature is going to rise really quickly.”

©2021 Cox Media Group