THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 28, 1994 TAG: 9407280488
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
For more than four hours Wednesday, no one noticed 21-year-old Tara Oliver unconscious in the driver's seat of an idling minivan in the Oceanfront Area Library parking lot.
For more than four hours Wednesday, no one noticed 8-month-old Ashley Blevins in a child safety seat, struggling to breathe the hot, stagnant air that soared to more than 100 degrees.
And for more than four hours Wednesday, no one noticed Tara's son, 20-month-old Andrew D. Oliver II, dying on the floor behind the driver's seat.
By the time someone did notice, it was 2:31 p.m., and it was too late to save Andrew, who was dead when police and rescue workers arrived.
A passer-by took the unconscious Tara Oliver and Ashley, whom Oliver was baby-sitting, into the library. There, Oliver was revived by a former Army medical technician who said she might have had a diabetic reaction. The technician, Daniel Latham, 23, gave her candy bars until she was taken to the Trauma Center at Virginia Beach General Hospital.
Oliver, of the 500 block of Arbre Court in Virginia Beach, was listed in good condition Wednesday night.
Ashley, of the 4600 block of Mistral Trail in Virginia Beach, was listed in critical condition Wednesday night at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk after being transferred from Virginia Beach General Hospital, police spokesman Mike Carey said.
Latham pulled Andrew from the van after helping the passer-by, who has not been identified, get the woman and girl inside the library.
``Someone said they thought there was another child in the car,'' Latham said. ``I went to check.''
Carey said he is baffled how the woman and children could have gone unnoticed for so long. The Oceanfront Area Library is at the well-traveled intersection of 19th Street and Arctic Avenue - less than a block from a police station and rescue squad station - and is a popular place in the summer.
``Thank God someone did finally notice at 2:30,'' Carey said. ``That person probably saved two lives.''
The Pontiac Transport's oversized windows were closed, and the air-conditioning was off. Latham said the air inside the van was at least 100 degrees. Police agreed. The boy was blue when Latham found him.
Ashley was having convulsions inside the library, Latham said. He thought her condition was heat-related. He guessed Andrew had been dead for about an hour.
Carey said police also suspect Oliver had some type of diabetic reaction and lost consciousness moments after she parked the van.
After she regained consciousness, she indicated that she had been in the parking lot since 10 a.m., Carey said. ILLUSTRATION: STAFF MAP
KEYWORDS: FATALITY INJURIES HEAT by CNB