A 2-year-old girl in Phoenix, Arizona, died after having the power window of a car rolled up while playing inside the parked vehicle, police said.
Phoenix Police Department officers were responding to a report of a traffic collision near 37th and Lewis avenues around 7:30 p.m. Saturday when they found Eimi Patlan-Garcia injured, NBC News reported, citing a statement released by the force.
“When officers arrived, they learned that it was not actually a traffic collision, but that a minor had been injured while playing inside a vehicle parked at a residence,” police said in the statement.
“The investigation showed that the girl was injured when one of the electric windows of the vehicle was raised,” the authorities explained.
Patlan-Garcia was taken by firefighters to a nearby hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead, the New York Post reported, citing Phoenix police.
The boy’s death was ruled an accident, according to a coroner’s report. His main cause of death was suffocation, according to the report.
“There are no obvious signs of foul play at the time,” police said.
Patlan-García lived in the house where the accident occurred, and her parents cooperated with investigators, authorities said.
Some children die each year in accidents involving power windows, according to Janette Fennell, president of the nonprofit advocacy group Kids and Cars.
“People do not understand the power of these [ventanas]. It has between 30 and 40 pounds of force and it takes 22 pounds of force to break the windpipe, ”Fennell, whose organization tracks children CBS 5.
He warned parents not to allow their children to play in or around cars unsupervised.
“Temperatures can rise and children can die very quickly from the heat, but maybe what they are not thinking about is the dangers of power windows, maybe they are not thinking about it. About children pushing cars to put them in march or get trapped in the trunk, “he added.
More than 65 children have died from power windows since 1990, data provided by Kids and Cars showed. Meanwhile, “untold numbers” of children, most of them 3 years old or younger, have suffered brain injuries and amputated fingers. due to power windows, according to the group.
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