3-Year-Old Dies in Hot Car After DHR Custody Failure

Yahoo

2 days ago

A 3-year-old boy, Ke'Torrius Starkes Jr., known as KJ, died Tuesday after being left in a hot car for approximately five hours while in the custody of Alabama's Department of Human Resources (DHR), authorities said.
The incident has sparked outrage and an ongoing police investigation, with the boy's family demanding accountability.
KJ, from Bessemer, was in foster care due to alleged drug use in his home when a contractor for DHR, employed by Covenant Services Inc., failed to deliver him to day care after a supervised visit with his father. The family's attorney, G. Courtney French, said the worker picked up KJ around 11:30 a.m. but instead ran personal errands, including buying food and visiting a tobacco shop, before parking at her home.
'This is a tragedy and a nightmare for any parent,' French said, per The New York Times.
The child remained strapped in the car from about 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., when the day care center's call prompted the worker to find him unresponsive. Birmingham police were dispatched to a Pine Tree Drive residence shortly after 5:30 p.m., and KJ was pronounced dead at 6:03 p.m. by Birmingham Fire and Rescue.
Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates noted the car was off, windows up, and hot, with no other apparent cause of death, though an official ruling awaits. Temperatures in the area reached 96 degrees, feeling as high as 103 degrees with humidity, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jessica Laws.
The worker, who has not been named, removed KJ to an air-conditioned residence but cooperated with police during questioning. DHR confirmed the contractor terminated the employee but offered no further details due to confidentiality.
French described the lapse as systemic failure.
'The safety net that should have been in place to protect KJ and others like him is what caused his death,' he said, per People magazine. 'So the very system that is in place for his protection was the system that led to his death — and that's what's so tragic about this.'
The family, considering legal action, expressed their grief in a statement: 'This is a parent's worst nightmare. Our baby should be alive.'
State lawmakers, including Senators Merika Coleman and Representative Ontario Tillman, have called for answers, with Coleman vowing, per The Times, 'We need answers, and we may need to examine state law to make sure this never happens again.'
Tillman echoed, 'How and why did this happen?'
The child's autopsy has been completed, and his body has been released to his parents, per the county coroner's office, People magazine reported. KJ's funeral is set for August 2.
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