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Grand jury to decide on charges in hot daycare van death

The little boy was left in the hot van for hours before his body was discovered Thursday evening.

HOUSTON - A grand jury will decide if charges will be filed in relation to a 3-year-old's death in a hot daycare van.

HPD is continuing its investigation into what lead up to Raymond Pryer's death. It happened at the Discovering "ME" Academy in Northwest Houston on Thursday.

The little boy was found dead in a hot daycare van that evening and may have been onboard for up to four hours. Officials said temperatures inside that van reached 113 degrees.

“As we all know, these things happen way too often,” said HPD Asst. Chief Bobby Dobbins during a press conference on Friday.

Dobbins said everyone, including children, are being interviewed about the tragic incident. But the District Attorney’s Office and a grand jury will ultimately determine if criminal charges are filed.

“These deaths shouldn’t happen, but they happen in this city and across the country, and all of us as a community really need to be diligent about taking care of our children and our elderly and people that might be left in a vehicle,” said Dobbins.

In this case, police say the 3-year-old was found unresponsive in a van for some four hours after it returned from a field trip to a park. The boy’s father had come to pick him up and staff members couldn't find him.

Pryer was found in the van and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. We’re told daycare employees thought all kids had been accounted for.

Some parents that showed up to the center Friday morning still had not heard the news.

“It’s just so sad,” said parent Wanda Bowen. “They have a lot of field trips and stuff like that where you have to sign off to let your baby go and I was just terrified. You have to say a prayer for the Lord to make sure nothing happens.”

We did some digging and found Discovering “ME” Academy was cited by the state at least three times in recent years for not having a safety alarm that helps verify children are not left onboard and for not immediately reporting a crash involving a van.

The daycare was also cited for not knowing the number of children in a group during a previous outing.

Pryer’s family addressed the tragedy in a press conference Friday evening. Family members asked for prayers and privacy before sending white balloons into the air and saying, "We love you RJ."

For more information on checking state records for Texas day care centers, click here.

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