(KUTV) — A 3-year-old girl died in a burning car in Queens, New York on Sunday after the doors were reportedly chained shut.
The Daily Mail reports Zoey Pereira was found in the backseat of a blazing Audi A6 Sedan just before 9 p.m.
Officers who responded to the scene said the car was in the middle of the street.
Sources claim they discovered the back doors of the car had been chained shut, the New York Post reports. The windows had also been shut.
A gas canister was found in the backseat of the car and another was discovered in the street.
Heat from the flames melted the handle, which helped firefighters open the car door and grab the girl.
The New York Daily News reported the girl’s 39-year-old father had been driving erratically before the car went up in flames.
One witness said the “guy was fully engulfed in flames.”
The girl’s father jumped into a nearby pond. Police found him there and took him into custody. He suffered second and third degree burns, and was taken to the hospital.
His identity has not been released at this time. For more information, please click here.
