The family of an Alabama foster child left to die inside a locked car where temperatures reached in excess of 140 degrees has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

Ketorrius “KJ” Starkes Jr., a 3-year-old foster child, died July 22 while in the care of a DHR transport driver who had picked him up for a scheduled weekly visit with his father.

The driver, 54-year-old Kela Stanford, has been charged with leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle, which is a Class B felony. Stanford worked for Covenant Services but was immediately fired after KJ’s death.

The lawsuit was filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court and names as defendants Stanford, Covenant Services, and multiple employees with the Alabama Department of Human Resources and the Jefferson County Department of Human Resources.

The

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