Inset, left to right: Michael Krueger and Tiffany Krueger (Saline County Jail). Background: The Wingstop where the couple allegedly were while their children were in the car (Google Maps).
A Kansas couple left their six children — including two 7-month-old infants — inside a sweltering vehicle for about a half-hour while they went into a restaurant as temperatures climbed into the upper 90s on one of the hottest days of the year, authorities said.
Michael Douglas Krueger, 53, and Tiffany Krueger, 40, were each charged with six felony counts of aggravated child endangerment stemming from the July 8 incident, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Police were called shortly after 2 p.m. to a Wingstop restaurant in the 1600 block of South Ohio Street after someone reported multiple children alone inside a parked vehicle, Hutchinson, Kansas, CBS affiliate KWCH reported, citing the Salina Police Department.
When officers arrived, they found the vehicle turned off with only one window partially rolled down, according to a report from Wichita, Kansas, ABC affiliate KAKE. Inside were six children ranging in age from 7 months to 13 years old: two 7-month-old infants, a 2-year-old, a 4-year-old, a 5-year-old and a 13-year-old, the station reported.
Investigators reportedly determined that the children had been left inside the vehicle for approximately 20 to 30 minutes while the outside temperature was 97 degrees and the heat index was 102. Witnesses told police the adults had remained inside the restaurant the entire time without checking on the children.
Salina Emergency Medical Services evaluated all six children at the scene before they were taken into protective custody.
Sgt. Aaron Melby told KAKE none of the children appeared to have suffered serious medical problems, although he noted that assessing infants can be more difficult.
The criminal complaints allege each parent "recklessly cause[d] or permit[ted]" each child to be placed "in a situation in which the child's life, body, or health was endangered," according to the complaints filed in Saline County.
Authorities said the incident underscores how quickly a parked vehicle can become deadly in hot weather.
"It can get extremely hot in a car very quickly," Melby said. "The car can get significantly hotter than the outside temperature — car temperatures can reach well over 120 degrees, so they basically become little ovens."
The danger exists even when a window is cracked open. Chad Scoville of the Salina Fire Department told KWCH that a child's body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult's, making young children especially vulnerable to heat-related illness.
If convicted, each aggravated child endangerment charge carries a potential sentence of 5 to 17 months in prison under Kansas law, according to the charging documents.
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