A day after a young child died after their father forgot to drop them off at daycare, leaving them in a car all day, police said it's unclear if the parent will face any charges.
The six-month old son was found in the vehicle by the father just before 6:00 p.m. on Friday.
Police searched the SUV, which was parked downtown, and said they believe the child had been there all day after the man neglected to drop the boy off at his Griffintown daycare.
The @SPVM confirms a 6-month old baby was found dead in a car near William St & Robert Bourassa Blvd about 5:30 pm, left in the vehicle since this morning. @CTVMontreal
— Max Harrold (@MHarroldCTV) June 22, 2018
Montreal police say the father of the 6-month old baby boy found his lifeless child in the vehicle after checking with the nearby daycare, thinking he had left him at the daycare this morning. @CTVMontreal pic.twitter.com/WeOZyoTXr1
— Max Harrold (@MHarroldCTV) June 22, 2018
“One theory police are investigating is that the man never actually came here this morning,” explained Jean-Pierre Brabant, Montreal Police spokesperson.
He thought he left his son at daycare in the morning, police said, but when he returned around 5:30 p.m. asking daycare staff for his child, they said the child hadn’t been brought in that day.
“The people from the daycare told him that he never brought the child at the daycare, so his first reaction was to go see in the vehicle,” Brabant said.
Inside the vehicle, the man found his child unconscious in his rear-facing car seat.
The infant was brought into the daycare, where police – upon arrival - attempted resuscitation.
The child, however, was pronounced dead on scene.
The parents – both in their 30’s - were transported to hospital to be treated for shock, and police said they will be closely followed and provided psychological help in the coming days.
Police will meet with the pair later on. Any possibility of charges is still yet to be determined, Brabant said.
Staff at the daycare were also treated for shock, he added.
About 50 meters across the street from the daycare is a playground where parents reacted to the tragedy.
“There’s no punishment that you can come up with for this family, because they’re going to punish themselves,” said Anna Garcia, a parent at the park with her children. “It’s awful, it’s tragic.”
Garcia is an American parent in town for the summer so her children can learn French. When she saw the police cars, she says, her first thought was “shooting.”
“The idea that it happened on a busy street, and no one saw it, and it wasn’t that hot today – it was a slow process – it’s awful,” she said.
But in Houston, where Garcia’s from, incidents like this are frequent- and parents are often prosecuted, she says.
According to the Canada Safety Council, an average of 37 deaths of this nature take place per year in the United States.
As a result, some people have developed safety techniques to ensure they remember every facet of a routine.
“Some people say they leave a shoe in the backseat,” Garcia explained. “When they realize they don’t have their shoe on and they’re forced to go in the backseat – I’ve heard of solutions like that.”
“Any type of memory technique – especially in those first months when you have a new baby and you can’t talk to them,” she added.
The Canada Safety Council suggests to “look twice before locking,” and make a habit of placing a cell phone, wallet, or purse in the backseat. Any strategy that requires a parent to check the back seat whenever they leave the vehicle, they say.
