Two 9-1-1 Calls For Child In Hot Car

Kids being left in hot cars have been in the headlines, not only across Tampa Bay, but throughout the nation this summer, and now a similar incident has occurred in New Tampa. But, this time, the focus of concern is not on a negligent parent.

According to the Tampa Police Department (TPD), on August 26, New Tampa resident Shana Dees was shopping at the Tampa Palms CVS drug store (located on Commerce Palms Blvd.) with her 10-month-old son Jack. After she finished shopping, she put her purchases and her son in the car and returned her shopping cart to the store, a few steps from the vehicle.

In that amount of time, the child (who was playing with the keys) locked the doors to the car. Even though the car was not yet running, Dees says she was fearful for her baby’s health because of the rising temperature inside the car. She called 9-1-1, but didn’t get the answer she expected from the TPD dispatcher.

“My infant son is locked in the car in a parking lot,” Dees told the dispatcher. “He has the keys and hit the lock button when I was loading groceries in. It’s so hot outside, I’m concerned. I don’t think I have enough time to call AAA before he would suffer from heat exhaustion. Can somebody come out and open the door? I don’t know if that’s even something you guys do?”

Unfortunately, the TPD dispatcher didn’t answer with a hopeful message, quote the opposite.

“Ma’am, we won’t be able to try to gain access to the car unless the child is in some kind of distress,” he told Dees. “And, by that point, they may just smash your windows.”

Dees was able to find an off-duty TPD officer who also called 9-1-1. However, the second dispatcher gathered the necessary information and sent help.

“She said she called 9-1-1 (a few minutes ago) and they said they’re not going to come out unless the baby is in distress,” the TPD officer told the second dispatcher.

“No, that’s not true,” the dispatcher said. “We’ll send someone right out.”

Published reports say that another shopper got a wrench from inside the store and smashed the front passenger window, got the child out and poured cool water on the baby’s head.

TPD spokesperson Laura McElroy says that the first dispatcher is under investigation. “The (first) dispatcher failed to follow policy,” McElroy explains. “In that situation, he should have gotten the necessary information and sent out police and fire personnel. (The way it was handled) is not the way we do business.”

McElroy says that the info the dispatcher gave Dees about breaking the window was factually correct, but that help still should have been sent.

No additional information was available at our press time.