WATCH VIDEO REPORT HERE: https://www.koco.com/article/advocate-discusses-federal-bill-after-3-year-old-girl-dies-after-being-left-in-hot-car-in-edmond/33638188
EDMOND, Okla. — Edmond police are still investigating the tragic death of a 3-year-old girl who was left in a hot vehicle for several hours Monday. Authorities told KOCO 5 that her father called 911 after finding his daughter in an SUV Monday evening. Police said the girl was in the car for four to six hours. A federal bill that is headed to the Senate would require technology to detect a child inside a car. Amber Rollins, who is the director of the nonprofit organization KidsAndCars.org in Kansas and is a working mother whose heart breaks for the Edmond girl's family, spoke with KOCO 5 about the what's being done to prevent other tragedies. “I can’t imagine this could happen to me, but I know that it could. And it almost did,” Rollins said. She said she nearly left her 3-year-old son, Renly, in the back seat of her car when he was 3 months old while she was on her way to work. “I did lose awareness that he was in my back seat during a change in route. He had just started back to day care,” Rollins said. Rollins works with parents who have lost children in hot cars. The latest incident is the fourth child to die inside a hot car this year in Oklahoma. “We work on education and awareness programs to help prevent these tragedies from happening,” she said. A federal bill known as the Hot Cars Act passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last month. The measure would require technology to be installed in all new vehicles to detect the presence of a child or occupant in the car. Experts suggest putting your cellphone or a laptop with the child as a reminder to check the back seat before you go about your day. “Wrap your arms around this family and lift them up and make sure this doesn't ever happen again," Rollins said.
