TAMPA, Fla. — There were devastating 911 calls after a 1-year-old Florida girl was found unconscious inside a hot vehicle Monday evening.
Neighbors were desperately calling for help when the toddler's parents found their daughter inside the Jeep.
“The parents are going crazy. The parents going crazy. Oh my God,” a neighbor said to a 911 dispatcher.
Janette Fennell, head of the nonprofit Kids and Cars, was pushing for change after the incident.
She wants lawmakers to pass the Hot Cars Act to help prevent another tragedy.
"I can't even put into words when we hear that we've lost another little soul and knowing that was the 50th (nationwide), like 5-0, death this year. It's one child almost every week,” Fennell said.
The new legislative proposal would require all vehicles to have technology that alerts drivers when a passenger was still in the backseat of a vehicle after being turned off.
"You can't buy a car today that either reminds you to turn off your headlights or turns them off automatically for you,” Fennell said. “Who decided it's more important not to have a dead car battery than a dead baby?"
According to Tampa police, Monday’s incident was an accident. Investigators said the girl’s father was using two vehicles to get people to school and work, accidentally leaving the girl in one of them.
This story was originally published by Darren Botelho on WFTS.
