Parents of tot who died in locked car sue day-care center

By CHRISTINE OLLEY Philadelphia Daily News
olleyc@phillynews.com 215-854-5184
The parents of a 2-year-old boy left in the back seat of a locked car with the windows up on July 1 are suing a Bucks County day-care center and its owners entrusted with the tot's care, a lawyer said yesterday.
Daniel Weinstock, who is representing Gil and Lyudmila Slutsky, the parents of Daniel Slutsky, said they know that the lawsuit won't bring their son back but wanted to draw attention to the problem of leaving youngsters in locked cars.
"The rule should be that no child can ever be left behind in a locked car," Weinstock said.
"Lots of times it's a mom or a child-care provider who runs into the store or the house and thinks it might just be a minute, but then for whatever reason it takes longer," he said.
The complaint, filed Tuesday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, charges that the Slutskys' neighbor and co-owner of Fairy Tales Daycare, Rimma Shvartsman, was paid to take Daniel to the center, on Highland Avenue in Penndel, at least three times a week.
On July 1, Shvartsman did that.
But when she arrived at the center, "Shvartsman inexplicably left Daniel Slutsky alone in the back seat of her minivan, with the windows closed and the doors locked," the complaint says.
Outdoor temperatures that day exceeded 80 degrees, and after Daniel was found about 4:30 p.m. and rushed to the hospital, he was pronounced dead of hyperthermia, also known as heat stroke, authorities said.
No criminal charges were filed.
"They're devastated," Weinstock said of the Slutskys. "In addition to the obvious shock and hurt, they feel completely betrayed" because Shvartsman was a neighbor and friend. Shvartsman's attorney, Michael Mustokoff, said the incident was a tragic accident. "Mrs. Shvartsman has said and expressed her sympathy in every way she knows how," he said.
No court date has been set.
phillycom:http://www.philly.com/philly/news/51459917.html
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