Girl dies in power window tragedy

By Peter Valencia

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    PHOENIX (KPHO) — A girl has died after she was playing inside a parked car at a home in west Phoenix on Saturday.

Phoenix police initially responded to what was believed to be a crash near 37th and Lewis avenues around 7:30 p.m. When officers showed up, they found a girl in critical condition inside a parked car. Investigators say the girl was hurt when one of the power windows was “rolled up on her.” She was taken to the hospital where she later died.

Janette Fennell is the president of Kids and Cars, national nonprofit that tracks car safety issues involving children. Fennell said a couple kids die every year from power windows in cars.

“People don’t understand the power that these window go up. It has between a 30 to 40 pounds of force and it takes 22 pounds of force to break the trachea,” said Fennell.

Fennell says bottom line don’t leave kids in or around cars unsupervised. “The temperatures can rise and kids can die really quickly from the heat but maybe what they aren’t thinking about is the dangers of power windows, maybe they aren’t thinking about kids knocking cars into gear or trunk entrapment,” said Fennell.

Police say there are no signs of foul play at the moment. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner will the determine cause and manner of death. The girl’s identity has not yet been released.

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