BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – The Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) has implemented a new policy in Jefferson County following the death of a 3-year-old boy in foster care who was left in a hot car by a DHR contract worker.
Ke’Torrius ‘KJ’ Starkes, Jr. was found dead in Kela Stanford’s car on July 22 around 5:30 p.m., according to Birmingham Police.
Stanford worked for Covenant Services, Inc., and was supposed to transport KJ from a scheduled visitation with his father to daycare but told his family in a phone call that she got “sidetracked.”
She has been charged with leaving a child in a vehicle.
DHR told WBRC 6 News, “Jefferson County DHR has implemented a new child transportation practice that any child aged 10 and under, traveling alone, must be transported by a DHR employee.”
WBRC has asked several follow-up questions and will update this report when those answers are received.
KJ’s mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Stanford, Covenant Services, Inc. and seven Alabama DHR employees.
During a news conference after filing that lawsuit, attorney Courtney French said, “None of the people who are involved in this lawsuit ever inquired where KJ was. Was he OK? They had no idea.”
KJ’s visitation with his father ended around 11:30 the morning of his death, according to investigators. French said Stanford then stopped to pickup food, delivered it to her family at home, then went on an errand at a tobacco store before returning home around 12:30 p.m.
Birmingham Police said Stanford called 911 around 5:30 that evening after finding KJ in the backseat of her car. The little boy was officially pronounced dead about 30 minutes later.
The temperature reached 96 degrees during the period KJ was left in the car. Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates it would have taken less than 30 minutes for the interior of the car to reach 124 degrees.
WBRC 6 News has confirmed the car Stanford was driving has technology called Rear Door Alert. According to Nissan, “Once activated, the system monitors when a rear door is opened and closed before and after the vehicle is in motion. If a rear door was used before a trip but was not opened after the vehicle is parked, the system reminds the driver to check the rear seat. Once the vehicle is in park, the system will first display a notification in the instrument panel. If the driver exits the vehicle and does not open a rear door, the system progresses to distinctive chirps of the horn.”
The alert can be turned off, and it’s unclear if Stanford had the technology activated at the time of KJ’s death.
KJ’s father, Ke’Torrius Starkes Sr., told WBRC the day after his son’s death, “As soon as I leave my son, the first thing he says is, ‘Daddy, I want to go with you.’ He says that every time, and it really hurts.”
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