Preventing and taking action in hot car deaths

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Temperatures in the Rio Grande Valley are getting hotter and summer is about a month away.

Sgt. Salvador Carmona with the Harlingen Police Department talks about the dangers of leaving children inside a hot car and what you can do to prevent these tragedies.

"We want everyone to remember to stop look in the car before you leave, and then lock the car," said Sgt. Carmona. "Because one of the things that has occurred is the kids are getting into the cars, after they get home, just to play and then they can't get out and Texas leads the nation for those deaths, which is not a good thing," said Sgt. Carmona.

An alarming statistic about heatstroke is the leading cause of non-traffic or non-crash-related deaths for children under the age of 14. According to Sgt. Carmona, a big factor seen by law enforcement is the "changing pattern".

Carmona says, "In other words, normally you drop the child off, but today, I have to drop the child off and then we forget. Having the daycare notify you, if the child was never there, that way, we can always double-check the car."

Carmona says another way to help in these situations is to have the child's favorite toy in the front seat. When you get out of the car the toy is a reminder that someone is in the backseat. Another reminder is your cell phone or purse.

Another helpful tool for people to remember is t...