Ministry reviews case of girl, 15, who suffered heat exhaustion in car
The teen was spotted in distress in the back of a SUV
The Ministry of Children and Family Development is reviewing the case of a 15-year-old girl with disabilities who suffered heat exhaustion after she was left in the back of a hot car for as long as an hour, police say.
The incident happened Sunday at a parking lot at the Abbotsford Air Show.
Abbotsford Police Const. Ian Macdonald said a passerby noticed the teen who appeared to be suffering from heat exhaustion.
The woman flagged down a nearby officer who was on a bicycle.
The officer was poised to break open the window to rescue the teen when the girl's parents arrived and opened the car. Macdonald said..
He said an ambulance was called and the teen was treated for dehydration and heat exhaustion.
Window opened just a crack, say police
Investigators say one window was open about five centimetres in 27 C heat.
"That was the temperature outside the vehicle," Macdonald said. "You can only imagine the temperature inside the vehicle would have been amplified."
Abbotsford police say they see a spike in similar cases when temperatures soar.
They also see an increase in the number of drownings and incidents involving children falling out of windows of multi-storey buildings.
On Saturday, a toddler was taken to hospital after falling through the window of a three-storey building in Abbotsford.
"We ask that people going into this weekend be super conscious of the fact that if they're near water in hot conditions, in a vehicle or if they're trying to vent their homes, be mindful of those categories," said Macdonald.