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Jul 02, 2023

Child dies in hot car outside Bishop England High School; Charleston police investigating

Bishop England High School. File/Grace Beahm Alford/Staff DANIEL ISLAND — A baby girl died Aug. 25 after her mother forgot her inside a locked car outside Bishop England High School that likely topped

Bishop England High School. File/Grace Beahm Alford/Staff

DANIEL ISLAND — A baby girl died Aug. 25 after her mother forgot her inside a locked car outside Bishop England High School that likely topped 100 degrees, according to the Berkeley County coroner.

The 16-month-old toddler was discovered in a blue Subaru SUV in the school's parking lot in front of the main entrance. Passersby discovered the unresponsive child in her car seat just before 4 p.m. and called 911, according to Berkeley County Coroner Darnell Hartwell.

The baby's mother works at the school and arrived between 7:30 and 8 a.m., he said, adding that the infant was supposed to be in daycare.

“The mom works here at the school, and the child was forgotten inside the vehicle,” Hartwell said.

He called the girl's death a “tragic accident.”

An autopsy conducted Aug. 27 at Medical University Hospital found elevated temperatures contributed to the child’s death.

Hartwell said a child could only survive “minutes” inside a car in those conditions.

“I definitely feel confident that it was triple digits within that car at peak time of today," Hartwell said.

The coroner declined to identify the mother by name at the scene and did not respond to emails the following day requesting the child's name.

Bishop England is a private high school overseen by the Catholic Diocese of Charleston. School officials canceled the Friday night football game against First Baptist. They later announced that classes will be canceled on Monday, though an optional Mass service will be held for students, families and faculty. Priests and counselors also will be available that day and throughout the week.

“We ask that you please keep this family and our school community in your prayers during this unspeakably difficult time,” Bishop England High School President Patrick Finneran wrote in an email to parents.

In the early evening Aug. 25, small groups of students and parents were hugging and crying outside the brick church adjacent to the school.

Mindy Jose lay a bouquet of white flowers around 6:30 p.m. beside a tree near the spot where the SUV remained parked. The mother said she was picking up her son from junior varsity football earlier when she learned a child had died.

A mother placed a bouquet of white flowers outside Bishop England, where an infant was discovered dead inside a vehicle Aug. 25, 2023 on Daniel Island. Staff/Ema Rose Schumer

“I saw a bunch of kids gathered and texting, crying,” Jose said. “My heart breaks as a mom for the whole family. It’s just so tragic.”

Hartwell said officials’ investigation is only just beginning. He said Charleston police and State Law Enforcement Division will conduct interviews and present their findings to the solicitor’s office.

There have been 19 pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths across the U.S. so far in 2023, according to noheatstroke.org. None had been reported in South Carolina this year, according to the group. There also were none reported in the state last year, with three such deaths reported in 2021.

Hartwell requested that people treat the deceased's family with empathy.

“This family definitely needs your prayers, your support," he said. "Most importantly, they need some respect and privacy while they go through these challenging times.”

He also had a message for parents throughout the area.

“Sometimes we can get so busy,” he said. “We just need to slow down and pay attention.”

Reach Ema Schumer at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @emaschumer.

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