News - Pasadena girl, 2, dies after being left in SUV; mom charged

Houston Chronicle
Pasadena girl, 2, dies after being left in SUV; mom charged
July 28, 2006
Pasadena, TX

A Pasadena woman was arrested after her 2-year-old child died at Hermann Hospital Friday night. Christina Elaine Alvarez, 21, was charged with injury to a child by omission after her daughter was found nonresponsive locked inside an SUV parked in the family's driveway in Pasadena. The child died at Hermann after being transported by LifeFlight.

Responding Pasadena police officers tried to revive the child at the home in the 300 block of Dunwick.

Police said the mother did not realize the child was still in the car after returning home from a fast-food restaurant between 3:30 and 4 p.m. Friday. When other family members arrived home around 6:30 p.m., they looked for the child and found her about 8:15 p.m. inside the vehicle on the floor between seats. They took her out and called emergency officials.

The charge of injury to a child by omission is a third degree felony that carries a sentence of between two and 10 years if there is a conviction. Charges were filed in the 182nd District Court, where bond was set at $10,000.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4081354.html

Click2Houston.com
Police Investigate Mother Who Left Child In Hot SUV
2-Year-Old Died After She Was Found

POSTED: 3:46 pm CDT July 29, 2006 PASADENA, Texas -- Police haven't decided if a mother will face criminal charges for leaving her daughter inside a hot SUV, Local 2 reported Saturday. Pasadena investigators said the situation seemed like an accident.

They said the 21-year-old mother forgot the 2-year-old was in the vehicle when she returned home Friday at about 5:30 p.m.

However, when the child's father and grandfather got home, they noticed she was not in their home.

"They conducted a search for the child, perhaps for about an hour and a half," said Capt. Bud Corbett of the Pasadena Police Department. "(A) family member discovered the child on the floorboards of an SUV in the driveway with the door closed."

The girl was flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where she later died at about 9 p.m.

According to police, there were six adults in the home, along with several children. A protective division has taken the case to investigate possible negligence.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/9596973/detail.html