DALLAS — The heat has already taken a deadly toll in North Texas this weekend. Benjamin Price, a three-year-old boy, was left in a hot daycare van on Friday afternoon.
His grieving family now has a lot of unanswered questions.
The medical examiner confirmed Saturday that the extreme heat likely killed Benjamin. The outside temperature was more than 100 degrees at the time of his death.
Grandparents Donald and Colette Washington said little Benjamin loved his bike. "We get up around 8 and he says, 'Papa, let's go riding,'" Donald said.
The bicycle was still equipped with training wheels. "He wasn't ready yet," Washington said. "Well, he was ready, but we wouldn't take them off."
His protective grandparents will now never get to see Benjamin ride this bike on his own. The three-year-old was discovered inside a hot van Friday afternoon outside the Little T's Tiny Tots daycare center in Dallas.
"A kid shouldn't have to die in a van," Washington said.
Police said it is possible that Benjamin was left in the van for as long as two hours before an employee found him.
"You trust these people to watch your kids 'til you get home. You expect them to be alive when you get off work," Washington said. "You don't need nobody calling you, telling you, 'Sorry, I left your kid in the van.' That's not a good enough excuse."
Friday's tragedy was an eerie and upsetting reminder for Avonda Fox. On the same day six years ago, her son Jacob died after a daycare worker forgot him in a hot van.
In a disturbing twist, employees moved Jacob's body to an area park trying to hide what really happened.
"When you lose a child, it's the most horrific thing," Fox said. "Horrible tragedy."
Fox pushed for new laws, and even formed a foundation in honor of her son Jacob. Like many others, she wonders when things like this will stop happening.
Fox said the state should be held accountable in many cases to make sure daycare centers are shut down when they're a danger to kids.
She sued the state in Jacob's case, a matter that is still in litigation.
The daycare worker in the case of Benjamin Price case was taken into custody and could face child endangerment charges.
"It should never happen," Donald Washington said. "How could you look at a parent and tell them, 'I left your child in a van'?"
E-mail mmoore@wfaa.com
