3-month-old found dead inside car in SE Austin

Austin police said a 3-month-old boy was found dead in a car in Southeast Austin.

The car was parked outside of a Waffle House on Ben White Boulevard near Riverside Drive. 

Police said Waffle House employees found the child inside a white Sebring sedan at about 2:45 p.m. The employees pulled the boy out of the unlocked car and called police, but it was already too late. 

"The child was found in the car unconscious and not breathing. EMS arrived on scene and began performing CPR, but were unsuccessful," said Corporal Chad Martinka with the Austin Police Department. 

Police are still working to determine how long the baby was inside of the car before he was found.

"I think they did what a good citizen would do. I think what we would hope any citizen would do whenever they find, whether it's a baby, a person, anything," Martinka said.  

Detectives said a man who drove with the child to the restaurant was inside and is cooperating with investigators. According to officers, he was too upset to answer any questions when they first arrived. 

Police say an autopsy will determine whether the heat played a role in the boy's death, but say the car was not running and the windows were rolled up. It was 99 degrees when the boy was found, with a heat index of 107. 

"With the heat like it is, especially going through the heat wave like we're going through, it only takes approximately 10 minutes for the temperature in a car to rise 20 or 30 degrees. With it being in the upper 90s right now, you can only imagine the inside of that car in 10, 20, 30 minutes being 100, 110, 120 degrees," Martinka said.  

Depending on the investigation, police say there could be charges filed against the adult who drove the boy to the Waffle House.