Her Son, 3, Died in Hot Car, in Which Temperature Hit 140 Degrees. Now She's Suing State Contractors By Chris Spargo

An Alabama mother is suing multiple state workers after her son died after being left in what her lawyer described as a “scorching hot car” driven by a state contract employee.

Ke’Torrius “KJ” Starkes, 3, died after being locked for five hours inside the car of Kela Stanford, who told detectives that she forgot the toddler was in her car, according to the Birmingham Police Department.

The boy’s mother, Ethanlynn Stewart, who did not have custody of the boy, has now filed a wrongful death lawsuit as a personal representative of her son’s estate against Stanford and multiple individuals with the Alabama Department of Human Resources and the Jefferson County Department of Human Resources.

The lawsuit seeks damages from eight individuals as well as the company that employs Stanford, claiming the defendants were responsible for KJ’s well-being on July 22 — the day of his death.

KJ was in foster care at the time of his death, and Stanford, 54, had been tasked with taking him from a supervised visit with his father and then returning him to daycare, according to a copy of the complaint, which was obtained by PEOPLE.

Stanford did not work for the state but the complaint alleges that her employer, Covenant Services, Inc., had been contracted to provide this service through the ADHR — the state agency that oversees the foster care system in Alabama.

The lawsuit alleges that Stanford had been tasked with picking up KJ from daycare, taking him to see his father for a supervised visit and then returning him to daycare on the day in question.

However, after she picked the boy up, the complaint alleges that Stanford drove to a grocery store, went shopping and then drove home to put away her groceries — leaving KJ inside her vehicle at each stop.

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Per the complaint, she also allegedly left the boy inside the car when she drove to a tobacco store a short time later, before returning home again around 12:30 p.m.

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Stanford then exited the vehicle without the boy and entered her home, where she allegedly spent the next five hours, the filing says.

Just a few feet away, KJ was locked inside her vehicle as the heat index soared to over 105 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, while inside the vehicle — which had black-tinted windows according to the lawsuit — the temperature could have climbed to over 140 degrees, G. Courtney French, the mother’s attorney, tells PEOPLE.

Then, at 5:30 p.m., Stanford got a call asking why KJ had not been returned to daycare yet, at which time she rushed out to her car and found the boy wearing his seatbelt and sitting lifeless in the backseat, French claimed at a news conference on Friday.

At 6:03 p.m., KJ was pronounced dead on the scene by the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service.

“It was a brutal death,” French says.

In addition to Stanford and her employer, the lawsuit also names individuals responsible for training Stanford and multiple employees of both the state and county human resource departments, alleging their failure to realize KJ had not been returned to daycare for over five hours.

“Had he been with his parents, nothing like this would have ever occurred,” French previously told PEOPLE.

The ADHR said that Stanford had been terminated by her employer after the incident, and on Aug. 1 the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office issued a warrant against her for Leaving a Child Unattended in a Motor Vehicle, a felony that would carry a sentence of two to 20 years in prison should Stanford be convicted at trial.

Stanford was arrested that same day by officers with the BPD. Records show she was released after posting bail.

French said at a press conference on Friday that no one from the state or county human resource departments has reached out to his client in the three weeks since KJ’s death.