A 4-year-old frum girl was tragically niftar in Valley Village, California, on Tuesday after being inadvertently left inside a hot vehicle for hours following a private family-arranged carpool in which older children were dropped off at the elementary campus, but the nursery-age child was not driven to the separate nursery campus.
According to YWN sources, the child was picked up as part of a private family-arranged carpool. Older children were dropped off at the Yeshiva K’tana of Los Angeles elementary campus, but for reasons that remain unclear, the driver did not continue to the separate nursery campus, and the child never arrived at nursery that morning. The driver, apparently unaware that the girl was still inside, parked the car at home and went inside.
The young child, unable to free herself from the vehicle, was niftar from the heat.
The devastating discovery came only at the end of the school day, when the girl’s mother arrived at the preschool to pick her up. She was told by school staff that her daughter had never shown up that morning.
Hatzolah and emergency personnel responded to the scene, but it was too late.
The tragedy is the latest in a string of hot-car deaths that claim the lives of young children across the country every year, particularly during the warmer months. Safety advocates have long urged parents, drivers, and carpool operators to implement systems, such as placing a personal item in the back seat, verifying head counts upon arrival, or using car seat alarms, to prevent these heartbreaking incidents.
YWN does not like posting these tragedies, but we have no choice but to keep doing it, because these stories never seem to stop.
The name of the niftar has not yet been released. Details regarding the levayah will be published when available.
Boruch Dayan HaEmes.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
