A three-year-old Bessemer boy died on Tuesday while in the custody of a contractor with the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) after being left alone in a hot vehicle for nearly five hours.
The boy has been identified as Ke'Torrius "KJ" Starkes Jr., of Bessemer. Police say he was found alone in a car near the 1500 block of Pine Tree Drive in Birmingham. The boy was left unattended from some time after noon on Tuesday to just after 5:00 p.m.
Birmingham Police say Starkes was accidentally left inside the vehicle while in the care of Covenant Services, a third-party contractor for DHR. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service arrived and pronounced him dead.
DHR released the following statement:
"A child in DHR custody was being transported by a contract provider when the incident occurred. The provider has terminated their employee. Due to confidentiality, DHR cannot comment further regarding the identity of the child or the exact circumstances."
Birmingham police are still investigating the death. Thus far, no charges have been announced.
The family's attorney, Courtney French, told Al(dot)com that the contractor picked up KJ from daycare at 9 a.m. for a supervised visit with his biological father. After the visit ended around 11:30 a.m., the worker stopped to pick up food for her family and shopped at a tobacco store. The worker then returned to her home and left KJ in the parked car for more than five hours, French claims.
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