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August 9, 2008 - 12:05AM
By JACKIE LEATHERMAN/The Monitor WEST OF DONNA - A toddler accidentally suffocated herself Wednesday when she stuck her head out a car window and hit the button to roll up the window, according to the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office.
"This is going to be a tough one," Sheriff Lupe Treviño said. "It's going to be a real, real tough one."
Two-year-old Ivet Sotelo's grandfather, Gilberto Sotelo, 58, has had custody of Ivet and her 8-month-old brother since May, Treviño said.
The grandfather stopped at a home between Donna and Alamo and left the siblings in the Ford F-150 with the air conditioner running, Treviño said. The 8-month-old was restrained in a child seat and Ivet was left sleeping, unrestrained, on the front seat of the truck, Treviño said.
The grandfather was at the home for about 15 minutes and poked his head out the door frequently to check on the children, the sheriff said. But witnesses said the child eventually woke up and was "jumping around the vehicle," Treviño said.
The next time the grandfather checked on them, he saw Ivet's head was caught in the window, he said. Sotelo freed his granddaughter and laid her on the ground, he said. Seconds later she turned blue and stopped breathing, Treviño said.
She was dead by the time she arrived at McAllen Medical Center, officials said.
The medical examiner told the sheriff's office it would only take a toddler about 30 seconds to suffocate, the sheriff said.
Treviño's office is waiting on the autopsy report, expected in the next week, before deciding whether to forward the case to the Hidalgo County district attorney for review or to seek a warrant for the grandfather's arrest, the sheriff said.
"Obviously, there is no intent," Treviño said. However, it is a crime under Texas law to leave a child unattended in a vehicle, and the grandfather could be found to have acted negligently, the sheriff said.
http://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/accidentally_32235___article.html/
sheriff_window.html
Emphasis added by H4K Editor
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