Our car is easily 97ºF when the temperature is 93ºF outside until the air conditioning has been running for at least a few minutes, if it’s been sitting in the sun.
That at least suggests that perhaps it was LESS than 15 minutes, not more.
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The fact is that a car can greenhouse rapidly and there are numerous variables that, even if they were all taken into account, weren’t measured at that one spot at that one time on that one day. The cop simply could not have had the data, let alone the resources, to make that call. And hey, look, if he was a little over-vigorous in rushing to judgement, okay, only human after all. But the fact that his department is backing him up and the local prosecutor is going for the mother’s jugular with zero regard for facts, science or common decency speaks of a profoundly hostile and willfully stupid police department more concerned with never admitting even relatively harmless mistakes than with the welfare of families.
It’s as if in any event where the police could do something right to build trust with their communities, they invariably do exactly the opposite. Seriously, this was the gimme answer on the test. If they can’t get this right, it’s like they want to fail.
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E.g.:
- How far away was the pool they were coming from?
- How hot was the car when they arrived home?
- How much of the engine heat gets into the cabin of the car after it’s turned off?
etc.
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Wind direction.
Obstacles to wind flow.
Adult body temperatures inside the car before they got out.
Angle on sun.
Barometric pressure (which fluctuates wildly over short distances which is the reason we have weather in the first place).
Cloud cover (which influences temperature in a complex relationship with humidity).
I’m sure I’m missing some variables. I’m just an applied physicist and not a trained atmospheric scientist.
And if the cop admitted to being overprotective and making unwarranted assumptions, I’d honestly be his biggest advocate. But instead he, like all LE in his position, hides behind the blue stonewall that pretends cops are immaculate.
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The source article states that the interior of the car was measured at ninety seven degrees several minutes after it had been opened. My assumption that it was much hotter before it was opened seems justified. I do know that the car was not a nice comfy temperature. The child’s skin temperature was high enough to prompt EMS to transport to the hospital for evaluation so there must have been some cause for concern.
You say “so what?” I say (and the police agreed) that child suffered needlessly while those so called responsible adults played around bending coat hangers. A child doesn’t have to be physically injured to be abused.
Calling 911 is not a drastic solution. In a busy suburban area fire and EMS will run a “child locked in an auto” call once or twice every day of the summer. It’s a non-event as long as the child hasn’t been left too long. Most times it takes about two minutes to open the car. After a quick assessment the parents sign a medical waiver and everyone goes home happy. That’s what responsible adults do.
OK, the aunt gets out of the car. So at least her door is unlocked at this point. I get how the wind blows it closed, but how does it lock it? Also, I would have immediately called a locksmith and explained the emergency. They would have come very quickly, solved the problem,and presented a bill rather than a ticket.
Could be they’re tired of retrieving dead children from overheated cars. Just saying.
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Speaking as a parent of a girl who is now 17 and could beat most net nannies to a pulp… I must call bullshit. You are doubling down on an officious, fundamentally impertinent position for reasons of ego. And willful class ignorance. Attempting to break into their own car was the appropriate first response, and they should never have suffered any disregard for attempting it. Over-exertion and over-excitement of the child was unfortunate, but unsurprising, and would have resulted in some heat exhaustion regardless.
I still strongly believe that the women involved must have been ‘less than worthy’ from the perspective of the self-important and overly righteous. I am constantly slightly taken aback by how… societally bipartisan this kind of officiousness is. Class is Ueber Alles in the U.S. today.
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I’m sure if I looked up the stats on my VW it would be the same. But in actuality, there is a motion sensor near the door handle so that when reach for it, that sucker locks. Unlock car, forget then go get sunglasses, reach for handle… BAM.
Wow. That’s some serious socio-political mumbo jumbo seasoned with a bit of pop psychology. Unsurprisingly you are completely wrong but I’ll give you a little help understanding where I’m coming from.
I spent fifteen years as a paramedic in the suburbs of Washington D.C. It is no exaggeration to say I’ve run these calls a hundred times. Luckily most end well because years of public education campaigns have made people aware of the danger to a child left in a hot car. But I’ve also rolled up on the scene to find exactly the scenario described in the article. It’s infuriating to see a child left to suffer while the people responsible for its safety and well being fiddle fuck around playing Fast and Furious with a coat hanger. That may be fine on a cool winter day but can have serious consequences in the summer. A toddler or baby simply does not have the physical capacity to endure high temperatures for very long.
The article states it was ninety three degrees at the time of the call. Even if it was a cloudy day, the interior temperature of that car would have been well over one hundred degrees. There is no doubt that that child suffered and it was left to suffer longer than necessary because the adults failed act in a timely fashion. Based on my actual experience in these situations, the citation for neglect was reasonable and warranted. And, no, a citation wasn’t issued because they called 911. It was issued because they didn’t call 911 when the child was first locked in the car.
It doesn’t matter that you want to believe that “The Man” has his boot on the neck of some socially-economically disadvantaged family. There’s nothing in the article to indicate that. It was just a cop doing his job. There have been hundreds of incidents of police abuse inflicted on disadvantaged communities that deserve our outrage but this isn’t one of them.
I’ll end with this: If a child is locked in a hot car, call 911 without delay. If you want to try to break in while you wait the few minutes it takes for them to arrive on scene, knock yourself out. Maybe you’ll get lucky and have the car open when they arrive. They’ll wish you a nice day and everyone can go about their business. It’s far more likely that they will have to break in and they’ll have the tools to do it quickly and usually without damage to the car. Again, everyone goes home happy. Whatever you do, don’t wait until an inconvenient situation turns into a crisis.
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