Baby critical after being left in hot car

LAYTON — A 6-month-old boy is hospitalized in critical condition after being left in a sweltering hot car for at least two hours.

Police detectives said Wednesday they will wait to see what happens to the child before deciding if they will pursue criminal charges against the baby's mother.

"She loaded the baby in the car, but got distracted somewhere along the line and forgot she had the baby with her," Layton Police Lt. Garret Atkin told the Deseret News.

The mother, whom police said lives in Clearfield, took the baby with her when she went to visit a friend's home in Layton on Tuesday afternoon. She went in to do some computer work with a friend and came out a couple of hours later to find the baby in the car, police said.

"He was floppy and unresponsive," Atkin said. "The mom tried to cool him off and realized that wasn't working."

She drove the baby to Davis Hospital, where police were summoned. Investigators said it was about 89-degrees outside at the time the child was in the car. Inside the car, it would have been about 120-degrees.

Authorities said Wednesday they were unsure of any prognosis for the baby's survival.

"She's very distraught," Atkin said of the baby's mother. "Sometimes these things do happen. Right now, we're not going to be discussing any charges on it until we know what's going to happen with him."

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com