Child in vehicle died of heatstroke in Miami Gardens, medical examiner says

Less than a day after a 3-year-old was found dead inside a sweltering vehicle at a Miami Gardens preschool, the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner reported that the child’s body temperature was fatally high and ruled the death accidental.

“The cause of death was accidental hyperthermia due to being inside an enclosed vehicle,” said Veronmother, ica Melton-Lamar, records coordinator at the ME’s office. That’s the medical term for overheating.

The child was Shalom Tauber, 3, one of nine children whose parents, according to the Jewish news website VINnews, work at Lubavitch Educational Center at 17330 NW Seventh Ave., where the toddler was found.

The child’s father, Menachem Mendel Tauber,

42, is a rabbi and educator at the center, according to the Jewish website. And the

who hasn’t been named, works there as well.

In March, a former

Miami day-care owner was sentenced to four months in jail and 10 years on probation for leaving a 2-year-old toddler in a hot van in the sweltering heat in 2016.

The child died. It remained unclear if Tauber would face a criminal charge, but it’s unusual for the parent of a deceased child to be charged in such a tragedy.

A day after the child was found dead, center leaders and Miami Gardens Police had released very little information about the tragedy. Police said they were seeking warrants for any surveillance video that might shed light on the incident and the center released a statement saying the tragedy hit close to home and that students and teachers would be offered therapy and the help of counselors.

Law-enforcement sources said Tauber drove to the school with four or five of his nine children and parked in the lot outside of the school at about 9 a.m. In the scramble to get to class, Shalom was forgotten.

It wasn’t until about 3 p.m., or six hours later, that someone mentioned Shalom had not been seen. Tauber raced to his vehicle, where he found his son.

Temperatures in South Florida have soared this week, with Monday being one of the most unbearable days of the year so far. The temperature reached 93 degrees, the heat index 103 and the temperature inside the closed vehicle that sat for hours certainly much higher. In recent years, only Texas has had more child deaths inside vehicles than Florida.

Police said they received a call about Shalom after 3 p.m., and arrived shortly before 4 p.m. Shalom was rushed to a hospital by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, where they confirmed his death.

Lubavitch Center Rabbi Benzion Korf said his staff was “beyond devastated.”

“No words can capture the heartbreak and sadness we feel,” he said.