MIAMI, Fla. (CNN Newsource/WSVN) — The wife of a Miami police officer died on Friday after getting trapped in the back seat of his police cruiser for hours in the Florida heat.
The car was parked outside Clara and Aristides Paulino’s Miami Shores home when Clara, 56, got in the back seat looking for something.
According to the Miami Herald, a partition between the back seat and the front of the car likely prevented her from being able to honk the horn, and she didn’t have her cell phone with her to call for help. The vehicle doors automatically lock when the doors close, according to the paper.
Officials said she was trapped inside the vehicle for at least four hours. The family found her body around 5 p.m., a source told the paper.
The heat index around that time climbed from 91 degrees at 1 p.m. to 92 degrees at 3 p.m. The temperature held steady through 5 p.m.
The Miami Herald said Aristides, who covers the midnight shift in Wynwood, got home and fell asleep, but may have left his unit unlocked. The Miami-Dade Police Department is now investigating the case.
