An investigation is underway following the death of a three-year-old kid inside an Australian police station.
Police responded to a report of a traffic accident in Queensland on Saturday, Oct. 25, shortly before 5 a.m. local time, according to a Queensland Police press release. During their initial inquiry, they discovered that a witness to the incident had assisted a 22-year-old lady and her young kid — later identified as 3-year-old Caden Case — and transported the pair to the nearby Beenleigh Police Station.
Authorities stated that “a short time later,” Caden fell unresponsive at the station. According to the announcement, police performed CPR on the youngster, who died at the site.
Police also said that a 24-year-old male and a 1-year-old child were in the car at the time of the incident, but the man snatched the younger child and fled the area before authorities arrived.
During a news conference later that day, Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Mooney stated that Caden “was in a bad medical way prior to [his] arrival at the station,” and that the boy’s mother had called emergency services before they arrived, according to The Courier Mail.
He further stated that Caden had suffered head injuries as a result of the incident.
Mooney went on to state that the individual involved in the incident, who is thought to be the driver, was apprehended by authorities at a home in the neighborhood later that morning. He also stated that the guy and woman involved were the parents of both children, but that they are currently separated.
The male has subsequently been charged with violating a domestic violence order and will appear in court on Monday, October 27, according to Mooney, as reported by The Courier Mail.
The details of the crash are still being examined, and both parents are collaborating with police, according to the site.
On Saturday afternoon, Oct. 25, Health Minister Tim Nicholls commended the responders at the police station who were on the scene when Caden died, calling them “unsung” heroes.
“The Queensland Ambulance Service informed me this morning that the situation at the Beenleigh Police Station was quite horrific.” “I also want to thank our first responders, who are often the unsung and forgotten heroes in these tragic circumstances,” he told reporters, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Brittney Moffitt, the cousin of the woman involved in the tragedy, has since set up a GoFundMe page.
“My cousin has tragically lost her 3-year-old son in a car accident due to domestic violence,” Moffitt wrote on the fundraising website, calling the situation “a mother’s worst nightmare.”
“All our hearts are breaking [and], I want to take a little pressure off her by asking for everyone’s help to raise some money for [her] son’s funeral,” she wrote, arguing that “no mother should have to bury their baby, let alone have the stress of worrying about paying for it.”
As of Sunday, Oct. 26, the GoFundMe had raised $2,100 toward a total of $5,865.
