MANSFIELD — A recording of a 911 call offers details surrounding the tragedy that left a five-year-old child dead after being unattended in a hot vehicle Thursday.
The call, at around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, was placed by the child’s mother — who told a dispatcher she had left her “baby in the car” across from Mansfield Memorial Homes.
The woman was distressed and could be heard wailing and crying in the background as another man picked up the phone to speak with the dispatcher.
“The baby is not moving — blue lips … please hurry,” he said between the woman’s screams. Those on the phone used the word “baby” but clarified later in the call the child’s age was 5.
“She said she left him in the car … this kid is gone. Oh my God,” the man said.
At one point during the 3-minute, 41-second 911 call, the mother could be heard in the background screaming repeatedly: “Why would I do this?” and “Help me.”
The dispatcher asked the person on the phone if there was anything he could do to break the window, in order to get the child out of the vehicle. But the man on the phone said “the kid’s outside, she’s with him on the ground.”
The dispatcher also asked if the child was breathing.
His response: “It doesn’t look good.”
Richland Source is not publishing the 911 call due to its graphic nature.
Police said emergency personnel responded to the call at 3:15 p.m. In a press release issued Friday, Mansfield police chief Jason Bamman said first responders found the child in the arms of his mother.
Authorities transported him to the hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.
Law enforcement officers have pointed to high temperatures within the vehicle as a factor in the child’s death.
“We would like to remind parents to check their backseats before getting out of their vehicles,” Bamman said. “On an 85°F day, a car’s interior can become dangerously hot, exceeding temperatures of 119°F in minutes.
“When left in a vehicle, these elevated temperatures can result in heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and even death.”
Mansfield police have said their “hearts are heavy” as they investigate the case with the Richland County Prosecutor’s Office and Richland County Children Services.
Authorities await the result of an autopsy before deciding whether to file charges.
Those with information about the incident are encouraged to call Major Crimes Detective Ronee Swisher at 419-755-9432.