Boy, 3, trapped in car window dies

A 3-year-old Los Angeles boy died after he wedged himself in a power window and car door frame when his father briefly left him alone, authorities said Friday.

The boy, Arturo Campos, apparently was left unattended in a vehicle while his father made a telephone call late Thursday, said Capt. Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

The father, whose name was not released, parked the car in the 2900 block of Broadway near 92nd Street about 8 p.m., turning off the engine but leaving the key in the ignition with the radio and power on, said Officer April Harding of the Los Angeles Police Department.

He then got out of the car to make a call on a nearby pay phone, making sure he could still see the boy, she said.

The man saw his son playing in the back seat and briefly turned his back to him while on the phone, Harding said. As his back was turned, the boy apparently moved to the passenger seat and hit the button that activated the power window, suffering a severe neck compression injury, Winter said.

The father took his son to a fire station, and firefighters transferred him to St. Francis Medical Center, where he died at 9:20 p.m., Winter said.