Ke’Torrius Starks Jr., who had been living in temporary foster care, was left in the Department of Human Resources worker’s car in Birmingham for five hours Tuesday as temperatures soared to 108 degrees, AL.com reported.
“This is a parent’s worst nightmare,” the child’s parents said in a statement. “Our baby should be alive.”
The tragedy unfolded after the child’s foster family had dropped him off at daycare at 9 a.m. so a DHR worker — who was contracted by a third party — could pick him up for a scheduled visit with his biological father, authorities said.
When the supervised visit ended around 11:30 a.m., the worker allegedly stopped to pick up food for her family and popped into a tobacco store instead of returning him to the daycare facility as planned.
The worker then allegedly went to their own home, where the boy was left alone in the car — with the windows rolled up — from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., authorities said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene just after 6 p.m.
Cops are probing the child’s death.
“A child in DHR custody was being transported by a contract provider when the incident occurred,” a DHR spokesperson told The Post in a statement.
“The provider has terminated their employee. Due to confidentiality, DHR cannot comment further regarding the identity of the child or the exact circumstances.”
The identity of the since-fired DHR worker hasn’t been made public and it wasn’t immediately clear if they would face charges.
It also wasn’t known how long Ke’Torrius had been with his foster family or why he was removed from his biological parents.
“This is a heartbreaking and preventable tragedy,” said Courtney French, a lawyer for the boy’s family.
“With the current extreme outside temperatures and the heat index of 108 degrees, the interior temperature of the car where KJ was trapped likely exceeded 150 degrees.”
The child’s death is the first hot-car death reported in the state this year.
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