A 2-year-old boy died after being left inside a sweltering SUV as his parents attended a bible study at Rehoboth Praise Assembly in Dallas, Texas, on July 24.
At the church, children and adults break into separate groups. When the Burmese family was reunited after about 45 minutes, the parents realized Boi Lei Sang — the youngest of their five kids — was missing, Fox4 reported. The father discovered his toddler unresponsive in their 2006 Honda Pilot and rushed him inside. It is not known how long he was trapped as temperatures soared to 100 degrees.
“He was very… looked like bad,” church member Reng Om told CBS DFW. “He was grabbing his kid, and the kid would not move.”
He had already passed away.
“The child was transported to a local hospital where the child was pronounced deceased,” police spokesman Carlos Almeida told ABC News. Police said this remains an active investigation, per CBS DFW.
Boi Le Sang is the 21st child to die in a hot car this year in the U.S., according to KidsandCars.org. Earlier this month, on July 22, Samaria Motyka, a 4-year-old from Pennsylvania, died after her babysitter left her in a vehicle for hours during a heat wave. In June, a Texas dad who left his 6-month-old daughter in the car for four hours tried to revive the infant by placing her in the fridge. He was charged with manslaughter.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that heatstroke in vehicles is the leading cause of all non-crash related deaths involving children 14 and younger.
