INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana State Police is issuing a warning with the high temperatures forecast for central Indiana this week.
The concern is with hot cars and kids and pets. ISP warns that a car with windows up can quickly reach 120 degrees or more.
According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, over the last 25 years, nearly 1,000 children have died of heatstroke after being left or getting trapped in a hot car.
ISP pointed to the following points:
- A child's body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult's. When a child is left in a vehicle, that child's temperature can rise quickly — and the situation can quickly become dangerous.
- Heatstroke begins when the core body temperature reaches about 104 degrees.
- A child can die when their body temperature reaches 107 degrees.
- In 2023, 29 children died of heatstroke in vehicles.
- In 2018 and 2019, we saw a record number of hot car deaths — 53 children died each year — the most in at least 25 years, according to NoHeatstroke.org.
The agency also provided the following prevention tips:
- Never leave a child in a vehicle unattended for any length of time. Rolling windows down or parking in the shade does little to change the interior temperature of the vehicle.
- Make it a habit to check your entire vehicle — especially the back seat — before locking the doors and walking away.
- Ask your child care provider to call if your child doesn’t show up for care as expected.
- Place a personal item like a purse or briefcase in the back seat, as another reminder to look before you lock. Write a note or place a stuffed animal in the passenger's seat to remind you that a child is in the back seat.
- Store car keys out of a child's reach and teach children that a vehicle is not a play area.
Police said if you see a child or pet alone in a locked hot car, act immediately and call 911.
Around 7 p.m. Monday, June 17, police in Lawrence said two kids were found inside a hot car in a Walmart parking lot in the 10000 block of Pendleton Pike.
When the fire department got the kids outside of the car, the temperature already passed 100 degrees.
According to court documents, officers looked at surveillance footage from the parking lot, which showed the parents left their two children in the car – without air conditioning and not running – for 44 minutes.
Court documents say officers observed the kids in the car and noted one child was "quiet, sweating profusely from his head and neck, dripping sweat," and the other kid was "quiet, seeming dazed and not sweating at all."
A person walking by the car saw the kids in the car and called 911.
According to court documents, the woman told police she was only inside the store for a little bit, and she said the man came inside to help her with heavy items.
Police arrested the parents for neglect of a dependent, and the children are in DCS custody.
(NOTE: 13News does not name suspects until charges have been filed by prosecutors.)
Around 7 p.m. Monday, June 17, police in Lawrence said two kids were found inside a hot car in a Walmart parking lot in the 10000 block of Pendleton Pike.
When the fire department got the kids outside of the car, the temperature already passed 100 degrees.
According to court documents, officers looked at surveillance footage from the parking lot, which showed the parents left their two children in the car – without air conditioning and not running – for 44 minutes.
Court documents say officers observed the kids in the car and noted one child was "quiet, sweating profusely from his head and neck, dripping sweat," and the other kid was "quiet, seeming dazed and not sweating at all."
A person walking by the car saw the kids in the car and called 911.
According to court documents, the woman told police she was only inside the store for a little bit, and she said the man came inside to help her with heavy items.
Police arrested the parents for neglect of a dependent, and the children are in DCS custody.
(NOTE: 13News does not name suspects until charges have been filed by prosecutors.)