Police in Minden are investigating the death of a toddler inside a home.
“The two-year-old was left in a house locked in a car seat — along with the 10-month-old — unattended,” says Jared McIver, Minden police chief.
Police responded to the home early Thursday morning, but the two-year-old girl was already being rushed to a hospital by a neighbor.
Unfortunately, doctors were unable to resuscitate the little girl.
Investigators are working to determine whether the car seat itself is to blame at least in part.
“What we were looking is if that child died in that car seat because of a possible malfunction with the chest piece being way up high where the child slouched down and cut off the airway,” says Chief McIver.
Investigators also want to know who was supposed to be home supervising the children.
“A lot of fingers being pointed right now,” says McIver, “and so we’re having to put the pieces of the puzzle together to figure out who was there, who left them, who was responsible, who knew about it, because that’s just negligence.”
McIver says this incident is gut-wrenching to the entire community.
“You don’t want to see death with anybody of any age. Children just seem to hit another spot,” McIver says. “And when you know that it could have been avoided, that’s even tougher.”
The second child who’s ten months old was uninjured.
McIver vowed that those responsible for the little girl’s death will be held accountable.
“If this was done intentionally, negligently, we will go after the people responsible,” says McIver.
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