Police raise awareness on hot car safety, prevention

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Harlingen Police Department is raising awareness on hot car safety and the deadly outcome of leaving a child inside a hot car.

Earlier this month, two hot car death cases were reported in the Rio Grande Valley, killing a 4-year-old boy in Brownsville and a 3-month-old in Mission.

Sgt. Salvador Carmona with the Harlingen Police Department shares tips on addressing hot car safety.

"A child's temperature rises five times faster than an adult's. The temperature inside a car can rise 20 degrees in just 10 minutes," Carmona said.

Carmona showed ValleyCentral an example comparing the temperature outside and the temperature inside a turned-off vehicle.

Photo by Diego Tijerina (ValleyCentral)

"When a child's temperature gets up to 104 degrees, then that's when the child's body is breaking down. Organs are stopping, swelling of the brain, things like that," Carmona said.

Harlingen police have responded to three calls this year of a child alone in a hot car.

Carmona breaks down the legal consequences that can be faced.

"It is against the law to leave a child in a vehicle for longer than five minutes if that child is under the age of seven and no one over the age of 14 is in the vehicle; that would be a Class C misdemeanor. So it's a simple fine up to $200," Carmons said. "If there is death involved, then it upgrades it to a felony charge. It could be anywhere from two to 20 years, $10,000 fine."

Carmona recommends that if you see a child alone in a car, call 911.

"Our concept here is to stop the pediatric deaths inside a car because of heat stroke," Carmona said. "Check the back seat. Start that habit of checking the back seat every time you get out of the vehicle."