Infant Dies After Being Left in Car

A 5-month-old boy died Sunday afternoon after being left unattended in an automobile by his foster parents, La Mesa police said.

The police and fire departments, responding to a call at 5:30 p.m., arrived to find that the infant had just been removed from the car by foster family members, police Lt. Alan Lanning said.

Efforts to revive the child, who had stopped breathing, were begun immediately and continued en route to Alvarado Hospital, where the baby was pronounced dead.

Lanning said the child had been in the car about three hours with the windows rolled up and that, during part of that time, the vehicle, parked on a residential street, was completely exposed to the sun.

Police are investigating, and criminal charges may be filed pending the outcome, Lanning said.

Because the infant was in the care of foster parents at the time of his death, the identities of the parties and locations involved were being withheld until the child’s natural parents were notified.