Children heat stroke deaths becoming an epidemic: ‘Dad’ in jail after baby boy dies in sweltering mobile home bedroom

A Largo, Florida, man is behind bars after his baby son died from being left in extreme heat.

KRON reports that at around 12:20 p.m. on Thursday, officers with the Largo Police Department responded to call from a home off of S. Belcher Road, in the King’s Manor Mobile Home Park. When they arrived, officers found an 8-month-old baby boy lying unconscious in a bedroom inside a mobile home, from extreme overheating.

William Francis Hendrickson, 25, the baby’s father, allegedly left the infant on the mattress inside the home for several hours without air conditioning. Paramedics arrived and began CPR on the baby, but it was too late. The little boy died at the scene. Temperatures inside the mobile home reached around 109 degrees.

Officers found another child at the scene, Hendrickson’s 2-year-old daughter, severely neglected. Paramedics took the toddler to a local hospital for a medical checkup. Subsequently, Hendrickson was charged with child neglect in connection his daughter and aggravated manslaughter in connection with his son.

Detectives reported that Hendrickson had previously been warned to never leave his children in hot area in the bedroom after social services paid a visit to his house.

Largo PD reminds parents to never leave children in hot environments, whether it be a car or a home or anywhere with poor ventilation. In 2017 alone, 27 children have already died in hot cars.

Check back with Crime Online as additional details become available.

[Feature Photo: Pinellas County Jail]