Sheriff: Car window suffocates toddler

WEST OF DONNA -- A toddler accidentally suffocated herself Wednesday when she stuck her head out a car window and then rolled the window up, according to the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office.

"This is going to be a tough one," Sheriff Lupe Treviño said. "It's going to be a real, real tough one."

Two-year-old Ivet Sotelo's grandfather, Gilberto Sotelo, 58, has had custody of Ivet and her 8-month-old brother since May, after state Child Protective Services found that their parents - reportedly both drug addicts - had been abusing the children, Treviño said.

The grandfather, who makes his living selling tamales, stopped at a home between Donna and Alamo and left the siblings in the Ford F-150 with the air conditioner running. The 8-month-old was restrained in a child seat and Ivet was left sleeping, unrestrained, on the front seat of the truck, Treviño said.

The grandfather was at the home for about 15 minutes and poked his head out the door frequently to check on the children, the sheriff said. But witnesses said the child eventually woke up and was "jumping around the vehicle."

The next time the grandfather checked on them, he saw Ivet's head was caught in the window. Sotelo freed his granddaughter and laid her on the ground. Seconds later she turned blue and stopped breathing, Treviño said. She was dead by the time she arrived at McAllen Medical Center.

The medical examiner verbally told the sheriff's office it would only take a toddler about 30 seconds to suffocate.

Treviño's office is waiting on the written autopsy report, expected in the next week, before deciding whether to forward the case to the Hidalgo County district attorney for review or to seek a warrant for the grandfather's arrest.

"Obviously, there is no intent," Treviño said. However, it is a crime under Texas law to leave a child unattended in a vehicle, and the grandfather could be found to have acted negligently.

____

Jackie Leatherman covers Hidalgo County government and general assignments at The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4424.