A one-year toddler roasted in a hot car Sunday, while her minister dad attended church.
The baby's body was discovered by her father Odane James (pictured above with wife Tiffany) at around 3:15 p.m., Sunday, three hours after he left her in the vehicle. It was not known if James, who is the pastor of Holiness Born Again church in Miramar, Florida about 20 miles north of Miami, was preaching on that sweltering 100 degrees-plus day.
Church-goers immediately gathered around the 28-year-old father and his little girl Kimberly. While some members tried to resuscitate the child who was not breathing, the remaining parishioners stood outside the place of worship crying and screaming as emergency personnel arrived. Hordes of police and an ambulance made their way through the crowd; the child was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead.
James, who emigrated to these shores from Jamaica nearly twenty years ago has not been charged with the toddler's death, but police are still investigating.
Hours after the tragic turn-of-events, church members still remained on the premises in a state of shock, while police gathered information and statements from them and took pictures.
According to the organization Kids and Cars, which maintains a national database tracking deaths and injuries to children left unattended in or around motor vehicles, Kimberly, sadly, is the 49th child this year to succumb to this deadly practice.
President Janette Fennell told the Miami Herald, "The most important thing to understand is that this can happen to anyone. If anything, it does tend to happen to the better parents. As little as 8 per cent involve drugs and alcohol. This can happen to college professors and dentists and ministers, really the pillars of our society."
28-Sep-10 - Trying to get various black public figures to speak out for or against Bishop Eddie Long has been harder than getting 4-year-olds to go to the dentist. No one is talking, but everyone is paying attention.
27-Sep-10 - Jessica Moore, 19, was hanging out at an off-campus frat party Saturday, when a man who was angry about not getting in to the party, came back with a gun and started shooting. Moore was shot in the head.
23-Sep-10 - Some really "interesting" pictures of Bishop Eddie Long, which were allegedly sent by Long to one of his "spiritual sons," were made public last week.
22-Sep-10 - According to federal authorities, Jesse Jackson Jr. not only tried to buy President Barack Obama's former Senate seat from Rod Blagojevich, but he also had a fundraiser pay for two airline trips for a blond mistress.
17-Sep-10 - James Jones was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and disturbing a school function for protecting his disabled young daughter from heartless bullies.
16-Sep-10 - Vancouver police confirmed that Bethany Storro lied about a black woman throwing acid on her face. Storro actually threw the acid on herself.
