Four-month-old baby dies in scorching hot car after dad parks and forgets about him

A four-month-old tragically died in a scorching hot after his dad parked the vehicle and forgot about him for hours.

Moshe Ehrlich, 35, had dropped three of his children off at and was supposed to bring the infant to his babysitter's home after that, according to a criminal complaint. However, he called his wife at her job to inform her that he had forgotten the milk for the baby and had to return home to get it.

He picked up the milk and some other things he needed before returning to the car, but instead of driving back to the sitter's house, he went straight to the yeshiva, a traditional Jewish educational institution, he attends and forgot to drop off the baby, the complaint says. He parked outside the school in Lakewood, New Jersey, at about 11am and went in to attend the classes.

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Then at around 1.30pm, someone from the school notified him that he had a phone call on a dedicated office line for family emergencies. The alarm was launched after the babysitter, Esther Kitay, texted Mr Ehrlich's wife, Faiga, to find out what had happened since the infant hadn't been dropped off that morning.

The babysitter had contacted the mum at 12.28pm but she hadn't seen the message until 1.30pm, which is when she immediately called her husband. Since he didn't answer her call on his phone, she contacted the school's emergency line. The reported that Ms Kitay's son had gone searching for Mr Ehrlich, finding his van outside the yeshiva.

According to reports, the father-of-six picked up his belongings and ran out towards his car. When he got to the vehicle, he removed his baby from the car and contacted the emergency services. The baby boy, whose name hasn't been released, was taken to Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood, where he was pronounced dead.

An investigation by the Lakewood Township Police Department, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office Major Crime Unit and the Ocean County Sheriff's Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit determined that the infant had been left alone in Ehrlich's car for "an extended period of time." Mr Ehrlich was arrested on March 20 after surrendering himself to Lakewood Township Police Headquarters and was transported to the Ocean County Jail.

The father was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said in a . Reports in US media say he was released by a judge hours later. Investigators said outside temperatures reached a high of 17C in the area that day, but the temperature in the car was around 35.5C.

In the US, cases of hot car deaths are common, with NoHeatStroke.org, an organisation that studies this issue, reporting that around 37 children under the age of 14 die from being left in a hot car each year. In most cases, children are forgotten in cars unintentionally when parents or caregivers changing their routine, for example a mum taking the child to day care instead of the dad, and forgetting that their child is in the back seat.