2-Year-Old Girl Left Alone In Hot Car Dies, Babysitter Arrested For Negligence

Toddler — In this representational photo, a mother sits next to her three-year-old daughter on a park bench as the girl drinks orange juice in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 16, 2012. Adam Berry/Getty Images

Police arrested a negligent babysitter after she allegedly left a 2-year-old girl alone for hours on end in a hot car in New Mexico which resulted in her death.

The Hobbs police came to know that the child was left in the care of Tammy Brooks, 41, who was supposed to drop the baby off at daycare, but she drove to her job instead, reported ABC News.

After remaining unattended for several hours in the car before Brooks realized she forgot her there after running an errand, the girl died.

Police arrived around 1:30 p.m. only to find the child dead. Brooks was immediately arrested and booked for abandonment or child abuse leading to death. It is a first-degree felony charge that Brooks is slapped with. Brook’s initial hearing is scheduled on Wednesday, police informed.

The child died due to the temperature hitting 91 degrees in Hobbs on Tuesday. This incident marks the 42^nd child death case that happened in hot car in the U.S., revealed national nonprofit KidsAndCars.org.

The organization also added that 54 number of deaths were registered last year marking the deadliest year with regard to the number of child deaths in hot car.

KidsAndCars.org is vouching for Congress to pass the Hot Cars Act to require rear occupant alarm technology in cars.

Representative Tim Ryan, D-Ohio said this summer after the bill was introduced, "No child should endure the tragedy of dying while trapped in a hot vehicle." He also added, “The unfortunate reality is that even good, loving and attentive parents can get distracted."

On Aug. 13, a baby was retrieved from a hot car by a concerned citizen after being locked there for hours. The incident took place in Pea Ridge on Sunday when she noticed Walmart associates gathered around a car in the parking lot. The woman, identified as Michelle Holt, told ABC News that she walked up to the car and was taken aback to see a baby inside.

Holt and her husband then shattered the glass window with the help of a brick and brought the baby boy outside whose "little arms" were "flailing back and forth," she said.