Video shows moment woman is told baby was left in hot car
ORANGE CITY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - In body camera video from a Volusia County sheriff's deputy, you see Meagan Burgess, 33, react as she learns she left her baby boy inside a hot car. She asks the deputy and the woman who found her son in the car, "Is he ok?" They tell her he's fine.
The woman in the yellow shirt in the video is Jessica Kaiser. She tells investigators she spotted the baby in the car next to hers -- the baby all alone and the car not running. Her husband called 911.
"There is a baby in a car. We just opened the door, but we don't know where the people are," he told the 911 operator. "The baby is in the car in its car seat. We opened the door to at least get air into the car!"
Fire crews checked out the baby, and gave him a bottle. Good Samaritans think the baby was only in the car for a few minutes at most, before they spotted him and opened the door to let in some air. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood is praising Kaiser.
"We avoided a disaster. Thank the Lord for a good Samaritan named Jessica Kaiser," he said.
Burgess said she dropped her other kids off with their grandfather and forgot the boy was in the back seat. That little boy is in good health.
She was in court on Wednesday. A judge said she could be released from jail, without bond, but she can not have any contact with her 8-month-old boy while this case plays out.
The National Safety Council and the safety organization Kids and Cars estimates 37 children die each year as a result of being left alone in hot vehicles. Last year, 42 died. The website noheatstroke.org reports 767 children have died due to pediatric vehicular heatstroke since 1998.