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Texas baby found dead after nine hours in hot car

The Helotes Police Department released the name of the baby that died after being left in a hot auto for several hours on Friday: 7-month-old Dillon Martinez.

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A witness noticed the baby in the auto at 3:09 p.m. Friday and called 911.

The father told police he was supposed to drop the child off at daycare before arriving to work at 6:15 a.m., but he forgot.

He has not been named, but the baby has been identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office as 6-month-old Dillon Martinez, the station reported.

The baby’s father was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure.

His death brings numerous children that died in hot cars in the United States this year to a minimum of 27, about 6 in Texas, informed Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, a national child security non-profit based in Philadelphia.

No charges have been filed.

According to the report, temperatures reached 100 degrees for much of Friday afternoon. The change makes it easier for drivers to forget children since they’re strapped in the back, Fennell said.

When police arrived, they found the father banging on the side of the vehicle, trying to get inside.

The toll began rising sharply in the 1990s with the passing of laws requiring that young children be placed in the back seat to avoid air-bag injuries.

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She said parents should get in the habit of opening the back doors after getting out of their vehicles and having their day care call if their child doesn’t show up. The worst year was 2010, with 49, according to both a count by Fennell and Jan Null, a research meteorologist at San Jose State University, who also tracks numbers.

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