(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Six children were taken to the hospital Monday afternoon after officials say they were found locked in a hot vehicle for an extended period of time.
First responders arrived around 12:30 p.m. at an apartment complex off Lincoln Drive in unincorporated Maine Township after receiving word that the children, ranging in age from 18 months to 7 years old, had been discovered in the vehicle, which was parked at the complex.
The windows had been left slightly open but the doors were locked, said the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, which responded to the scene.
“The children did not appear to be in distress but were visibly overheated,” the sheriff’s department said in a news release.
The children were freed and taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital for evaluation, officials said.
Police located the children’s father, who told officers he works for a cleaning service and left the vehicle to clean one of the residences at 11:30 a.m.
The father was charged with six counts of misdemeanor child endangerment and released on his own recognizance, the sheriff’s department said. He is due in court June 22.
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