00:00A Washington County man is in jail, accused of leaving two little girls locked in a hot car.
00:05As Lauren Linder reports, when they were finally rescued, both girls were suffering a medical crisis.
00:14Court records reveal two little girls were left in a hot car in the Walmart parking lot here off of
00:21Trinity Point Drive in South Strabane.
00:23EMS crews transported them to the hospital, their conditions unknown.
00:28These temperatures are awful.
00:30Lisa Richmond is feeling the heat after driving to the Walmart in South Strabane, and she's not the only one.
00:38We just got in at ours today and it was sweltering.
00:40It's brutal inside a car that's been parked outside in these temps, and the impact is that much greater on
00:47kids.
00:48Court documents say medics took two girls, nine months and three years old, to the hospital for medical emergencies.
00:55After they were found in a hot car Sunday afternoon in the Walmart parking lot, the three-year-old unresponsive
01:03at the time.
01:04It just upsets me really bad that how did somebody do that?
01:07South Strabane police say the girls were locked in a car that wasn't running with the windows closed for about
01:1345 minutes.
01:14Their mother told them they were being cared for by a man named Fritzen Charles.
01:19Officers arrested him on multiple charges, including endangering the welfare of children.
01:25The chief tells Katie Ka, the 22-year-old is not the kid's father.
01:30It's nothing to joke about.
01:32The dangers are real.
01:33According to Kids and Car Safety, a nonprofit that works to prevent injuries and deaths of children involving motor vehicles,
01:40more than 1,100 children have died in hot cars in the U.S. between 1990 and 2024.
01:48So far, 15 have died this year, including one in Mansfield, Ohio.
01:53Their bodies actually heat up, especially the little ones.
01:56They can heat up three to five times faster than a grown-up's body can.
01:59Dr. Kavita Conti with UPMC Children's says a car can rise 20 degrees in just 10 minutes,
02:06so even a 75-degree day can quickly reach to 95 degrees inside a car.
02:13And know that cracking a window doesn't do much to cool it down.
02:17She urges you take your child with you if possible and leave your purse in the back seat
02:23or some kind of cue to remind you your child is in the car.
02:27This is something that's very preventable, and it's not usually intentional.
02:32This is all accidental, and it can happen to anyone.
02:35Charles remains in the Washington County Jail without bail, awaiting his preliminary hearing on July 22nd.
02:42For now, reporting from South Strabane, Lauren Linder, KDK-TV News.
