CT Mom of Baby Who Died in Hot Car Calls on Government for Prevention Technology

A Ridgefield, Conn. mother who lost her baby last July when her husband left him in a hot car is calling on the U.S. government to require automobile companies to install new technology to prevent these deaths.

Lindsey Rogers-Seitz, 38, is the mother of 15-month-old Benjamin Seitz who died on July 7, 2014 of hyperthermia, or overheating, after his father Kyle Seitz accidentally left him in his car seat on a hot summer day while he went to work.

Benjamin was supposed to be dropped off at daycare that morning by his father, but never arrived, according to police. Mr. Seitz discovered the child that evening and rushed him to Danbury Hospital around 6 p.m., where the toddler was pronounced dead.

But Seitz is not the only forgetful parent who made this tragic mistake. Nearly 40 children die each year from being left in hot vehicles. Temperatures inside a car can rise up 20 degrees in just 10 minutes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTSA).

Lindsey Rogers-Seitz has created a blog to cope with her grief and is also using the website to shine a light on this safety issue. Rogers-Seitz told NBC on the Today Show on Tuesday that this can happen to any American. “It could be you, your best friend, the neighbor down the street.”

Rogers-Seitz, an attorney, is now calling upon the U.S. government to put pressure on the auto industry to develop technology to prevent these deaths. She is working to raise awareness and believes car companies can help solve the problem by developing devices to alert parents when a child is left in the car.

Rogers-Seitz said in her research she found that “some car manufacturers have actually known about this serious safety problem since 2001, and GM in particular said that they were going to install these devices in 2004 and nothing happened. Since then there have been over 520 deaths.”

While she has made several appearances to raise awareness, Rogers-Seitz is not speaking about the details of what happened on July 7, 2014, due to an ongoing police investigation. The toddler’s death has been ruled a homicide after a Medical Examiner performed an autopsy citing hyperthermia as the cause of death.

Rogers-Seitz writes on her blog:

“Ben was a true gift from God, and his beauty continues to shine through in our lives. I still travel each day with him in my heart, as we work to ensure other children are not needlessly lost.”

For more information about this mom and her mission, click here.

Photo credit: The Gift of Ben blog