‘I got a bad call for you.’ 911 tapes released in death of NC baby in a hot car.
Pineville Police on Friday released 911 calls between emergency officials in a 1-year-old baby’s death in a hot car outside a Lowe’s store Thursday.
“Hey, Pineville, it’s Charlotte, I got a bad call for you,” a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police dispatcher tells a woman at the Pineville Police Department in one of two 911 calls released by police. “Female caller left her child in a car all day, now stating her child is dead.”
The second 911 call came from a Medic worker asking if the police had someone on the way to McMullen Creek Parkway.
“We are not,” the dispatcher replies. “Whatcha got?”
“Critical rescue of a child being left in a hot car at the Lowe’s, ” the Medic worker replies.
“We have the call from the mother,” the dispatcher says in another part of the 911 tape. “We’ve got officers en route.”
Police later said the woman was the child’s foster mother.
An autopsy is being performed to find the cause of the baby’s death, Pineville police said in a news release Friday. The baby was a boy, Pineville police Lt. Corey Copley told The Charlotte Observer.
“The 12-month-old is currently in the custody of the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office, where our investigation will continue,” police said in the statement.
“We have many questions, and realistically we won’t have all the answers right away.”
The baby was found in his child seat in a car parked at the Lowe’s in the McMullen Creek Market shopping center on Pineville-Matthews Road, Charlotte Observer news partner WBTV reported on Thursday.
The woman previously reported to be the child’s mother works at a store in the center, according to WCCB. She realized she’d left the baby in the car as she was leaving the center, WSOC-TV reported.
“The mother continues to be cooperative with Pineville Police and we have extended Mobile Crisis help to her and her entire family as they deal with this tragedy,” police said Friday in a statement.
Authorities have not identified the woman because no criminal charges have been filed.
A long investigation ahead
Two 911 calls were made to police and MEDIC ambulance service from the scene, including one from the mother, according to Pineville Police. The Charlotte Observer has requested copies of 911 calls answered by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police dispatchers.
Pineville Police said the woman left her child in the car “for a prolonged period of time,” in a news release at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
Police confirmed in the release that they responded to a 911 call and found the child in a car in the Lowe’s parking lot in the 10600 block of Pineville-Matthews Road.
“Lifesaving measures were taken,” police said in the release, and Medic took the baby to Atrium Pineville, where the child was pronounced dead. “We have a lengthy investigation ahead of us and we will be working through tonight and during the coming days.”
The baby is the second child to die in a hot car in North Carolina this year and the 37th nationwide, according to the non-profit Kids and Cars child safety organization. Nine-month-old Kaiden Logan died in a hot car in Winston-Salem on May 2, according to a news release by the organization.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated Friday afternoon after police identified the woman they have been talking to as the child’s foster mother. Police said the child’s biological mother is not involved in the case.
This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 11:03 AM.