Texas boy, 3, dies in mom's overheated truck

updated 5:40 p.m. ET Aug. 15, 2008

HOUSTON - A 3-year-old boy was left in his mother's truck in 90-degree heat as she worked her shift at a hospital, then wriggled free from his car seat and even tried to start the ignition or open the windows before he died, officials said.

The mother of Cameron Thomas Boone told investigators she forgot to drop him off at day care. She returned to the truck about nine hours later to find him unconscious Thursday.

The woman broke the back windshield and called for help, but the boy was dead when she took him to North Cypress Medical Center, where she worked, Sheriff's Lt. John Denholm said. A key the child had put in the ignition automatically locked the doors, so the woman had to use a rock to break in, officials said.

Security guards were patrolling the lot, but the truck had tinted windows and it was difficult to see inside, Denholm said.

The sheriff's office would not identify the mother or disclose her position at the hospital. Calls to the hospital were not returned Friday.

No charges have been filed.

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