More children die in hot cars in Texas than in any other state, according to a non-profit that tracks the deaths.
HOUSTON — The National Weather Service says it takes just 10 minutes for a child to die from heatstroke while trapped inside a car.
Since 1998, Texas has led the nation in hot car deaths involving children with 142 lives lost, according to noheatstroke.org.
According to Texas law, you can break a window to save a child but could you still face charges?
Our VERIFY team took the question to South Texas College of Law professor Tom Hogan.
“No district attorney is going to do that,” Hogan said. “And then even if the district attorney was crazy enough to do that, no Texas jury would ever convict somebody who is trying to save a child from a car, from the heat of a car in a Texas summer.”
On the civil side, Hogan said two state laws apply.
“Texas has a good Samaritan statute that generally protects somebody who is acting reasonably in the attempt, in an emergency, to rescue somebody,” Hogan said.
There’s also the legal doctrine of necessity, which in this case means saving the child outweighs the harm of breaking the car window.
Last, there’s the insurance piece.
“Whether it’s the person whose car had to be broken through, their insurance might cover it,” Hogan said. “Your own car insurance, possibly, would cover it if you had to break through somebody else’s car window to do it.”
As for a pet left in a car, the law isn’t there quite yet.
“There is a companion bill that is out there right now that also would cover pets under the same circumstances, it hasn’t passed the legislature yet,” Hogan said.
The most sobering statistic is that 100 percent of hot car child deaths are preventable.