A 3-year-old girl died Friday afternoon in Rialto after her foster motheraccidentally left her in a sweltering car, retrieving her about 20 minuteslater, police said.

The 48-year-old foster mother was not arrested, said Rialto Police Lt. JoeCirilo.

"This appears to be an unfortunate tragedy," Cirilo said. "But the casewill be sent to the district attorney to determine if, in fact, criminalcharges should be filed."

The girl and two other foster children, ages 5 and 6, were in the car withthe woman when she arrived home about 4 p.m. Friday after visiting a friend.

She was distracted by her blind dog, who was standing in the driveway ofher home, said Randy Emon, supervising deputy coroner in the San BernardinoCounty coroner's office.

As the foster mother climbed out of the car to move the dog, she spottedthe children scampering out of the car. She believed all of the childrenentered the house, Emon said.

About 15 to 20 minutes later she realized the 3-year-old had been left inthe car and rushed out to get her, Emon said.

"She found the child in the car barely responsive so she took the childinto the house and tried to cool her down because she was very hot," Emonsaid.

Paramedics who tried to revive the girl said her temperature was 108degrees, the coroner said. "She was in full cardiac arrest when the paramedicsarrived," Emon added.

Investigators were trying to contact the girl's family before releasing hername. She was pronounced dead at Community Hospital in San Bernardino at 4:52p.m., Emon said.

"The woman was absolutely torn and emotionally distraught over thisincident," Cirilo said.

The woman lived in an "upper-middle-class neighborhood" in Rialto, he said,on a street lined with two-story homes. Temperatures were in the high 90s inRialto, a town just west of San Bernardino.

On Wednesday, Northridge resident Subha Sadaf, 21, was arrested onsuspicion of child endangerment after an off-duty police officer noticed herchildren sweating in her parked van.

The officer had been giving water to the two children, ages 7 weeks and 11/2 years, through a cracked window in the van and was about to break thewindow when Sadaf showed up and was arrested, police said. She was taken toVan Nuys jail, and later released on $50,000 bail.