2 Tragic Baby Deaths in 2 Days in Phoenix

Zane Endress, Josiah Riggins left in hot cars
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 31, 2017 4:33 AM CDT
In Phoenix, 2 Babies Die in Hot Cars in 2 Days
A sign in direct sunlight indicates it's 120 degrees in Phoenix.   (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

It's an avoidable tragedy that authorities across America want to make as rare as possible—but in Phoenix, it happened twice in two days. The first baby to die in a hot car in the Arizona city over the weekend was 7-month-old Zane Endress, who was left in a car for hours on the city's north side on Friday afternoon, AZFamily.com reports. Police say the boy was in the care of his grandparents at the time. They believe a family member may have forgotten the boy was in the car after returning home from work. No arrests were made. In the second death, 1-year-old Josiah Riggins died Saturday afternoon in the back seat of a car in a church on the city's south side, 12 News reports.

Police say Josiah wasn't discovered until after his father had made two trips between his apartment complex and the church to drop off his mother and another relative. Police say the Riggins death also appears to be accidental and no arrests have been made. The deaths were the first of their kind in Phoenix this year. The AP reports that dozens of safety groups are urging the Senate to pass a recently introduced bill that would equip cars with sensors that could detect when a child is left in a rear-facing car seat and set off an alarm if one is left behind. "A simple sensor could save the lives of dozens of children killed tragically in overheated cars each year," bill sponsor Sen. Richard Blumenthal said in a statement last week. (More hot cars stories.)

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