Houston, Texas: 2 year old Khoa Nguyen dies after being left in car while autistic brother has seizure

Toronto boy, 2, dead after being left in car in 50 C heat
Postmedia News August 19, 2010

HOUSTON — A two-year-old Toronto boy has died after being left in a blistering hot car for two hours in a suburb of Houston, Texas.

According to police officials, the toddler — identified as Khoa Nguyen — was forgotten in the vehicle when his older, autistic brother had a seizure as the family was returning from the grocery store. The family, who were visiting relatives in Houston, had gone inside with their seven-year-old son to retrieve medication, leaving the younger boy behind.

When they returned to the SUV two hours later, he was already unconscious. He was later pronounced dead at a north Houston hospital.

“On a day like today, the interior temperature (of a car) can rise almost 20 degrees,” said Det. Sgt. Ben Beall, of the Harris County Sheriff’s Department. “Unless you’re found almost immediately, (there’s) a good probability you’re going to die.”

Houston police said the case will be referred to a grand jury, which will decide if charges will be laid.

The vehicle’s internal temperature was recorded at about 50 C.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Toronto+dead+after+being+left+heat/3419873/story.html#ixzz0xAgVJSkq

Langhorne, Pennsylvania: Felony charges filed in heat death of Bryan Nevins

By Larry King
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Bucks County prosecutors this afternoon filed felony neglect charges against a suspended Woods Services counselor in the July 25 heat-related death of Bryan Nevins, a severely autistic resident of the facility in Langhorne.

Stacey J. Strauss, 40, of Philadelphia, was charged with neglect of a care-dependent person, involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person after allegedly leaving Nevins, 20, in a parked van outside Woods Services on a day of record heat.

Nevins was found dead five hours after returning from a field trip to Sesame Place. His parents, who live in New York, have said their son had the mental ability of a two-year-old. Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler has said that Nevins would have been unable to operate the door handles of the van because of his severe autism.

Nevins and his twin brother, who also is autistic, had lived at Woods Services for years, his parents have said. They withdrew the other brother after Bryan Nevins' death. The men's father, retired New York City homicide detective William Nevins, told the Associated Press last week that he believed his son died because of one person's neglect.

Investigators agreed with that assessment.

"Mr. Nevins' death was not simply a tragic accident," said a statement issued by Heckler and Middletown Township Acting Public Safety Director Patrick McGinty. "Rather, his death resulted from the criminal failure of the defendant to discharge her assigned responsibilities."

The charges allege that Strauss and another Woods Services worker took Nevins and three other clients in a van to Sesame Place, near the Oxford Valley Mall. Nevins inexplicably was left behind in the van after their return to the facility around noon.

"It is undisputed that ... Mr. Nevins was not escorted from the van, nor was he returned to the residence by Ms. Strauss as was her responsibility," the statement said. "Instead, he was left in the van on one of the hottest days of this terribly hot summer."

It has been estimated that the temperature inside the van reached as high as 150 degrees, and that Nevins died within an hour of being left there. Bucks County Coroner Joseph Campbell determined that Nevins died of hyperthermia, and that the death was accidental.

The death came one year after 2-year-old Daniel Slutsky died of hyperthermia after being accidentally left in the back of a van outside a day-care center in Penndel, Bucks County.

Then-District Attorney Michelle Henry filed involuntary manslaughter charges against Rimma Shvartsman, a neighbor of the toddler's family who operated the center and had driven the boy there. A Bucks County Court jury found her not guilty of all charges in March.

The neglect charge against Strauss, a first-degree felony, is more severe. It carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

Prosecutors said police had notified Strauss's attorney of the charges, and that she has been directed to surrender to Middletown Township authorities.