A Cuban-origin father was arrested in West Palm Beach for leaving his three-year-old daughter inside a turned-off car and exposed to intense heat for half an hour, while he went to a Sam's Club establishment in the mentioned city in Palm Beach County.
The Cuban man, 42 years old and identified as Raúl Rielo Fernández, when questioned by the police claimed that he had forgotten that his daughter was in the vehicle.
He told the authorities that it only took 15 minutes, but the police determined that it had taken 31 minutes.
It was a customer who saw the little girl alone inside the car who sought out an officer while other witnesses took the girl out of the car, which was unlocked.
While this was happening, the father was inside the store shopping and even entered the liquor section, as authorities revealed after checking the security cameras of the establishment.
Just at the end of the purchase, he is seen running out of the store upon realizing that something was happening outside and, apparently remembering at that moment, that he had left his daughter in the vehicle.
“When she was taken out and our officer arrived, she was sweating a lot. She was red and she was crying,” said Mike Jachles, spokesman for the West Palm Beach police, in statements collected by Telemundo 51.
At the moment the child was rescued from inside the vehicle, the temperature in the sun was 92 degrees Fahrenheit, but inside the car, it was much higher.
The temperature inside a closed vehicle can become deadly in less than ten minutes. If the air temperature is at 90 degrees, it can reach 120 or 130 degrees inside a closed vehicle in ten minutes," explained meteorologist Robert Molleda.
The officials determined that the temperature inside the car while the girl was in it increased to at least 117 degrees Fahrenheit.
Images from the agents' body cameras showed the moment when the girl's mother arrived at the scene and hugged her daughter, who was taken to the hospital for evaluation.
Raúl Rielo Fernández was arrested at the scene and is accused of child negligence for leaving a child in a vehicle for over 15 minutes.
Although the incident has been reported by the press well into this week, the event - which fortunately did not end in tragedy - occurred last Saturday.
The researchers explained that Fernández told them he was inside the store buying a gift for Mother's Day.
"What happens to me doesn't interest me […] I want to thank you for acting quickly," the Cuban was heard saying once he was placed in the police vehicle.
Raúl Rielo spent Saturday night in prison and on Sunday, Mother's Day, he was released upon payment of bail.
At least 1,093 children have died in the United States from heatstroke between 1990 and 2023 after being forgotten in closed and unventilated vehicles, especially during the summer, according to a study conducted by Kids and Car Safety released this Friday.
The state of Texas leads in deaths with 155, followed by Florida (118) and California (65).
The majority of these deaths occur under three circumstances: children are forgotten in vehicles (55%), access the car by themselves (25%), or are consciously left inside the vehicle (15%).
On average, about 38 children die in the United States each year in vehicles due to heatstroke, with 2018 and 2019 being the two worst years of the last 33, with 54 and 53 deaths, respectively.
In 2023, there were 29 accidental deaths of children in vehicles due to high temperatures, with the state of Florida leading the way with seven children deceased.
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