A 3-year-old boy died after being left in a hot car for more than five hours while in the custody of a contractor working for the Alabama Department of Human Resources, according to multiple outlets.
Ke'Torrius Starkes Jr, known as KJ, was reportedly trapped inside a vehicle on Tuesday after a supervised visit with his father while under the care of the state's department that oversees social services like child protective services and foster care.
According to information provided by the family's attorney to The New York Times and CNN, the boy was picked up from daycare at 9 a.m. by a woman who was contracted through Covenant Services, Inc. for the supervised visitation.
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Instead of immediately returning him to daycare afterward, the worker reportedly made several personal errands with Starkes buckled in the backseat before returning to her home in a suburb of Birmingham.
The child was then left in the backseat at the worker's residence for more than five hours before they called 911. Starkes' aunt told The New York Times that he was left in the car from about 12:30 p.m. to about 5:30 p.m.
The Birmingham Police Department, which is investigating the death, told the newspaper that officers were dispatched shortly after 5:30 p.m. to respond to a report of an unresponsive child who "accidentally left inside of a vehicle while in the care of a third-party contracted worker through the Department of Human Resources.”
An official cause of death has not been determined yet.
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According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in the 90s on Tuesday afternoon in the Birmingham area — with a "feels like" temperature of 103 degrees when humidity is factored in.
The Alabama Department of Human Resources provided Scripps News with the following statement:
"A child in DHR custody was being transported by a contract provider when the incident occurred. The provider has terminated their employee. Due to confidentiality, DHR cannot comment further regarding the identity of the child or the exact circumstances."
