A 4-month-old New Jersey infant perished after being left for an “extended period” in a hot car — and his father has been charged in the tragic death, authorities said.
Investigators did not disclose just how long they suspect Moshe Ehrlich’s son was left on his own inside the dad’s Toyota minivan Tuesday in Lakewood, when temps reached a high of 63 degrees.
Local news footage shows officers around the parked van, which appears to have been left in direct sunlight.
Lakewood cops received a 911 call about an unresponsive child at approximately 1:45 p.m. and officers were dispatched to a residential block near Fifth Street between Monmouth and Princeton avenues, near a kosher supermarket market and a pair of synagogues. Ehrlich lives three blocks from where the van was parked.
“Responding Officers found Hatzolah Medical Services attempting to render lifesaving aid to a 4-month-old male infant,” the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said.
The boy was taken to Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood, where he was pronounced dead.
Detectives eventually determined the boy “was left alone in [Ehrlich’s] vehicle for an extended period of time,” prosecutors said.
Ehrlich was arrested Thursday and charged with child endangerment after surrendering to police. He was released by a judge hours later.
The family did not respond to messages.
The baby’s name was not released by investigators.
