Police remind parents to not leave children in hot cars

Nineteen child deaths in the United States as a result of being left in hot vehicles this year alone has prompted the Iowa City Police Department to issue a strong warning to adults: do not leave a child unattended in or around a vehicle.

“Never do it,” said Sergeant Denise Brotherton of the Iowa City Police Department. “Never get in the habit of doing it.”

Sgt. Brotherton believes warmer weather during this time of year gives adults a false sense of security that it is okay to leave a child for a few minutes to go into a store.

“When you look at the time it takes to get your child out of the car it’s really a couple of minutes,” Brotherton said. “[Then compare that to] the lifetime of losing your child. What’s more important? ”

Experts say when the outside temperature is 93 degrees Fahrenheit, inside a vehicle, even with the window slightly open, the temperature can soar to 125 degrees in just 20 minutes.

Pediatricians say because the heat is so intense a child can go “quickly into a coma a die,” according to Dr. Charles Jennissen, director of the division of pediatric emergency medicine at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

A San Francisco State University report finds that since 1998, 464 U-S children have died of hypothermia after being left in hot vehicles. Five of those fatalities were in Iowa.

“Unfortunately, you have those heart sinking deaths where children are left in those cars and they suffocate from the heat,” Brotherton said.

To avoid these deaths, Iowa City police are offering the following tips:

-Place a stuffed toy in your child’s car seat when not in use, and move the toy to the front passenger seat when your child is in the car seat as a reminder that your child is in the vehicle.

-While driving with a child, use drive-through services whenever possible.

- If you see a child unattended in a hot vehicle, call 911 and try to write down the license plate so that police can follow-up with the offender.

Iowa City Police Department is hopeful that these tactics may prevent an unnecessary death.