A 1-year-old girl died Monday after she was left in a van outside an Omaha day care facility during record-breaking heat, officials said.
Officers found the unresponsive girl inside a van at Kidz of the Future Childcare around 3 p.m. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced deceased.
Police said they arrested 62-year-old van driver Ryan Williams on a charge of child abuse by neglect resulting in death.
Protesters gathered at the day care facility on Tuesday, CBS affiliate KMTV reported. They demanded accountability for the girl's death.
Omaha is dealing with dangerous heat right now, weather officials said. Temperatures were in the 90s on Monday, with the heat index rising over 100. The National Weather Service had warned it could feel as hot as 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
Just two hours before the girl was found, Omaha's fire department reminded residents to never leave children unattended in vehicles.
The girl's death was the 19th hot car death this year, according to KidsandCars.org, a nonprofit that compiles that information. Around 38 children under the age of 15 die each year from heat stroke after being left in a car, according to the National Safety Council.
Temperatures inside a car can rise by almost 20 degrees within 10 minutes, even with a window left cracked open, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The temperature inside a vehicle is higher on a hot day than it is outside; an outside temperature of 70 degrees can result in a temperature above 100 degrees in a vehicle, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It's especially dangerous for children, whose body temperatures rise three to five times faster than an adult's.
The NHTSA and the CDC have shared safety tips for preventing hot car deaths. The agencies advise:
Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBS News.
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