KAILUA-KONA — A toddler remained in critical condition 10 days after being left unattended for nearly two hours inside a parked car in the Kailua Village area.
The 2-year-old girl is being treated at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children on Oahu, said Hawaii Island police Wednesday afternoon.
The child was intubated and flown to the state’s only children’s hospital the evening of May 5 after she was found in an unattended vehicle in the Coconut Grove Marketplace parking lot, behind Bongo Ben’s Island Cafe. By the time police arrived at the scene, medics already were in the process of transporting the child, who was suffering from heat exhaustion.
Police investigating the incident said the child was locked inside the parked vehicle for nearly two hours before her family realized her whereabouts were unknown and tracked her down. The car was in no shade or very little shade.
According to police, the father said the family was shopping earlier that day, and after he dropped them off at home, he headed to work. He did not realize his daughter was asleep in the vehicle when he went into work earlier in the afternoon.
When the family discovered the girl was not at the house, the child’s aunt drove to the father’s place of employment and found the toddler in the vehicle, police said.
No one has been arrested in connection with the incident, police said.