Police: 14-month-old girl dies after being left in hot car for 8 hours in Smithtown

SMITHTOWN, N.Y. -- A toddler died on Monday after police say she was forgotten in a hot car on Long Island for eight hours.

CBS New York has more on the tragic accident in Smithtown and what you can do to try and prevent something like this from happening.

Suffolk County Police say a grandmother forgot to drop off her 14-month granddaughter at daycare and went to work, leaving the child in the backseat of the hot car.

Eight hours later, police say, the 54-year-old woman went to pick up the child at the daycare when she realized she had left the toddler in the car while it was parked on Redwood Lane.

The child was transported to a local hospital in Smithtown, where she was pronounced dead.

According to the National Safety Council, since 1998 an average of 38 children per year have died from vehicular heatstroke, adding 53% of the incidents happened because a parent or caregiver forgot the child in the car.

So far in 2023, the council says 14 deaths have been reported.