Two children in Detroit died of suspicion of exposure to cold after being found without responding in the truck where the family lived on Monday, police said.
The children, 2 and 9, were discovered not breathing for their mother around noon, said Detroit Police captain Nathan Doubt. They were taken separately to a hospital, where they were declared dead, he said.
The mother had parked the truck in a casino parking lot around 1 in the morning on Monday, and the vehicle ran out of gas at some point, he told reporters in a video published by the Police Department.
The tragedy occurred when Detroit had temperatures of around 12 degrees on Monday morning, with 6 -degree chills, according to the National Meteorological Service.
The mother first realized that a child did not breathe and called a family member to take the child to a hospital, he said. Then he realized that a second boy did not breathe and called the family member, said the captain.
“And that person transmitted both children to the Children’s Hospital, where they were declared deceased, with the early indicator that they frozen until death,” he said.
Three other children survived. There is an open investigation by the police department, he said doubt.
“It has to be [investigated]”He said doubt.” I don’t think anyone really wants to think about that at this time with the two approved children, but the reality is that the circumstances have to be examined. We have to discover how to move on. “
Doubt said the situation was sad, especially as a father. “I can’t imagine what the family feels,” he said.
Doubt urged people to take advantage of resources such as shelters, churches or other established facilities to help. He also said that people who see others in need during the cold should call 911.
“We will appear with all the right people to offer resources, transport, feed, dress, give that person shelter,” he said. “We care.”
