Little boy found dead was left in daycare van all day, police sa – KFDA – NewsChannel ten / Amarillo News, Weather, Sports
ORLANDO (WESH/CNN) – A 3-year-old boy was found dead in a van at a daycare, and police said they believe the boy was left in the van all day long.
Police responded to a report that a child was left in a daycare van Little Miracles Academy on Monday night. The child was found dead.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina identified the dead child as Miles Hill in a Tuesday morning news conference. Miles would have turned four later this month, the police chief said.
Criminal charges are pending against the daycare worker who left the child in the van.
Investigation exposed that a daycare worker picked up Miles and other children in order to take them to another Little Miracles Academy at around nine a.m.
She returned to the very first daycare center “and did not realize that Miles was still in the van,” Mina said.
OPD Chief John Mina gives update on death of 3-year-old in daycare van. https://t.co/a2rKbaCw9K
Mina said the worker admitted to not doing a head count.
Later that evening, the child was not dropped at the grandmother’s house, so the grandmother dialed 911. The police began a missing child investigation.
The grandmother also called the daycare center. Someone from the daycare center checked the van, where Miles was found in the back seat.
An autopsy is being performed on the child, Mina said, but “we believe Miles was in the hot van all day long.”
The worker who left the child has been very cooperative and very distraught over the child’s death, Mina said.
“This is an absolute tragedy that could have been prevented,” he said.
If the autopsy confirmed that Miles died from being left in a hot vehicle, he will be the 32nd child to die that way so far in 2017, and the fifth in Florida.
Records from the Florida Department of Children and Families display the daycare was found to be in disturbance of transportation rules last month, WESH reported.
“The facility’s log for children transported did not include destination time, arrival time, destination location, and departure location,» according to an inspection report.
Hadas Brown, a reporter with WESH, eyed officials with the department at the daycare Tuesday morning. They said they’ll give a statement later in the day.
Just spotted FL Dept of Health at Little Miracles Academy – wouldn’t say why, but said they may make a statement later today. @WESH pic.twitter.com/e62dFgMkVB
“This is a terrible tragedy and our thoughts are with the family of this little boy,” the Orlando PD tweeted late Monday night.
This is a terrible tragedy and our thoughts are with the family of this little boy. Detectives are working hard to determine what happened. pic.twitter.com/Vh055gya4o
Copyright two thousand seventeen WESH via CNN. All rights reserved. Raycom News Network contributed to this report.