I know, this is Actually Infuriating, but … Also she didn’t just leave the now-dead kid in the car, she left two in there to die, but one survived. My guess: with brain damage. “Always Beautiful Medical Spa” FFS. Duck lips were totally worth it.
A baby died after his mother left him and his 2-year-old sibling inside a car while she was getting lip filler at a Bakersfield medical spa on a 101-degree day, authorities said.
It is estimated that Hernandez’s children were in the vehicle without air-conditioning for 90 minutes, wrote Det. Kyle McNabb, noting that the internal temperature of a car can rise to a blistering 143 degrees in just one hour of 100-degree weather.
Hernandez told police she found her baby foaming at the mouth and having an apparent seizure after emerging from her procedure at Always Beautiful Medical Spa, according to the police report. She frantically dialed 911, and both her children were transported to a hospital for treatment.
By the time her 1-year-old arrived at Adventist Health hospital, he wasn’t breathing, had no pulse, his lips were blue, and he had an internal body temperature of 107.2 degrees
My initial thought for this was “How do you plea Not Guilty willfully leaving two children in a car for 90 minutes.” but then I found this later on
Still super shitty, but also I think change the tone a little. Her expectation was that the car was going to be climate controlled for the procedure. Still stupid of her, and kids shouldn’t be left alone that long, but it defo let me understand the “not guilty” plea
Even if it weren’t for the car turning itself off, the car could overheat idling in the heat. Hybrids are not immune from that. I own one and had it happen while idling because my kid was napping and I stayed in the car with him in the driveway of the house. I was in the car, and noticed the AC suddenly got hot. I turned the car off and noticed the pool of coolant under the car. I woke up the kid, and went inside and ordered a radiator (which was a bitch to install btw). It’s incredibly negligent to leave your kids in a running car on a hot day. Also, someone could just come in and steal the running car with the kids in it. I hope they throw the book at her tbh.
She she parked at about 2, car turned off at about 3, she came back at about 4.30. She left a 1 year old and a 2 year old alone in public for 2.5 hours.
To add a nugget to the shit mountain, she would’ve left the car running for 2.5 hours.
People regularly camp overnight in their Toyota hybrids with them running, there’s an entire Prius camping subreddit about it. I’ve done it myself to visit a dying family member in the desert, it only cost me $5.00 of gas to let it run all night with AC on. Engine only kicks on to charge the battery. So the car itself is whatever.
This is banned in my city specifically because idling cars produce a ton of localized pollution. I can go some places in the summer and basically get sick walking through a parking lot because it is filled with idling cars and I have (fairly mild) asthma. Please do not idle your car for only the purpose of maintaining temperature .
If they have a hybrid, the engine doesn’t idle all night, only intermittently to charge the battery.
It is more ethical and better for the environment to leave a hybrid running all night (engine only kicking on every so often) than a typical home or apartment which has a much bigger daily carbon impact. A hybrid isn’t the same as a normal idling car.
People die in heat and live in their cars. Do you go without air conditioning when it’s over 100 degrees out? No, because you don’t want to die of heatstroke, right? So why is your indoor climate control more justified?
And yeah car exhaust is bad for everyone, I agree, including the person in the idling car.
I probably wouldn’t go camping if I thought the weather was hot enough that I won’t survive without AC…
It’s just called dry camping, some people don’t have a choice.
What the fuck
This comment right here is the actual “Mildly Infuriating” part of this story. I bike to work, recycle trash and use the train for my vacations, all in an effort to reduce my personal carbon footprint to save our dying planet. And then there’s egoistical assholes who leve their cars running for days on end just because they can’t handle the mild inconvenience of a night outside.
No offense to you though. Your story sounds like a one time off due to very special circumstances.
If they have a hybrid, it is more ethical and better for the environment to leave it running all night (engine only kicking on every so often) than a typical home or apartment which has a much bigger daily carbon impact.
Or… hear me out… You don’t use an AC at all! Especially for camping.
Dry camping is just a term for sleeping in your car. It isn’t literally camping per se but it can be.
You have to use an AC when it’s hot out or you’ll die.
Using a clothes dryer has a bigger impact than a hybrid car running AC.
Exactly. Even if it was 68F outside, it’s still extreme negligence.
Correct yea, the 90 minute timeframe was without AC.
And that assumes the AC didn’t crap out earlier because it was left idling in ridiculous heat. The system is not designed to be idled that long, and the cooling systems assume the car is moving for most of the time it’s on. (Both the engine and the cabin ac here.)
Even if the car didn’t turn off automatically, it’s still dangerous and in the “extremely stupid” degrees of negligence.
Firmly agree with the statement that it was irresponsible because yes it was regardless.
However, disagree with the statement that a climate control system is not meant to be operated while idle. That is an old myth that I expect came from back when there was fewer electrical components in the car so not turning the ac /off/ before turning the vehicle off would risk damaging the cars electrical.
To a vehicle’s climate control system it doesn’t give a damn if it’s driving or idle. Now, while being idle, you have less fuel efficiency, And if you don’t have the engine running, it will drain more battery than needed, which will make your battery less efficient. But as for actual wear and tear on the components, running it at idle is almost no difference than whether you’re driving with it on.
Again, though, didn’t claim it wasn’t irresponsible either way, But it’s highly unlikely that Climate system would have failed if the vehicle had stayed on.
that’s not actually a myth. The car is functionally not designed to be left on idle for extended periods. (Note, I’m saying extended periods. Warming/cooling your car at idle is normal. idling at a stop light is normal. Five minutes while waiting to pick some one up is normal. Leaving it to stay cool for 2 hours is outside that design window.)
When an engine is idling, it’s turning at a lower RPM than when moving. of particular note here is that the alternator and AC compressor are both driven by the serpetine belt directly connected to the crankshaft. The lower RPM makes both less efficient. For the compressor, what this means is that the AC system is turning more slowly than it normally would, reducing the total amount of cooling. For the alternator; it produces less electricity and may cause the battery to be discharging. Depends on some things, including how hard the AC is having to work, etc.
Further, because the car is not moving, there is less air moving around the engine compartment (or wherever the radiator for the engine and the AC is located.) This equates to higher operating temperatures for the engine, as well as yet more reduced ability for the AC system to remove excess heat from the cabin.
just because an AC can be run at idle for extended periods doesn’t mean it’s designed to, and doing so, especially on old or poorly maintained systems, in excessive heat, is likely to cause it to crap out where it wouldn’t have normally. Is it a particularly high probability? Not really. Is it still too high considering it’s a life-safety system? fucking absolutely.
This very much depends on the car.
Most modern computer controlled cars will not discharge the battery at idle unless you have a powerful sound system or an alternator that’s already on its way out. And they can adjust idle anyway if needed, most will increase idle when AC is turned on now to compensate the increased load on the engine. Driving the AC compressor is such a light load compared to the moving a 2 ton vehicle.
Also, many newer cars may even run an electric compressor instead of one driven off the motor. Think hybrid vehicles, it wouldn’t be feasible to have an AC system that turns off half the time if it’s running on the electric motors.
What you might deal with is heat soak if the fans can’t move enough air over the condenser core. But modern vehicles are immensely more efficient than even 10 year old vehicles.
You’re point?
They’re not designed to idle for extended periods, and doing so puts strain on the systems. that the cars are “more efficient” doesn’t change that.
the AC compressor isn’t a significant load, no. But it’ expects a certain engine RPM coming into it, and it’s designed at that. It’s significantly less when the engine is idling because that’s below it’s designed range. There’s a reason the manufacturers tell you not to idle your car for extended periods (mine says more than 10 minutes, my last one said 5.) and this is part of it.
the increase in RPM modern cars do isn’t for the AC system. it’s to keep the engine from stalling and running smoothly… the compressor is still not designed to operate at that RPM.
And she had a hybrid vehicle btw
It’s a Toyota hybrid though, they are regularly used for camping.
https://www.reddit.com/r/priusdwellers/
The engine getting overheated isn’t usually a concern because it only turns on to charge the big battery. Sometimes if it’s hot inside the car, the engine in Toyota hybrids will stay on indefinitely, but thats to reduce the heat on the big battery. If the inside of the car is cool, then the big battery is cooled and the engine won’t stay on. Even in 101 degree heat, that’s still over 100degrees additional to overheat an engine and it only runs for about 5min at a time to charge the big battery.
I would never use this info as an excuse to do what she did though ofc, no one should leave children that small unattended in a car, not even for 5minutes.
You doesn’t sounds confident on something you claim tbh. Also it’s a lot of technical truth but not really claim.
Car usually idle at 700/800rpm, this is normal working rpm for both alternator and compressor(because of course it is). Unless your car is about to stall due to whatever issue your car have, it should be within the normal working rpm and have enough refrigerant pumped. Variable compressor is even better, as it can adjust the amount of refrigerant pumped based on the car’s rpm, instead of only work well within a fixed range of rpm.
For alternator, there’s regulator inside that can control the voltage it output based on the rpm. The voltage output need to be stable across all normal working rpm, and if the voltage drop too much under load and in idle rpm, it’s most likely there’s underlying issue with your alternator. So if the voltage output is so low while idling that it discharge the battery, your alternator need to be replaced.
For the engine, moving air doesn’t cool the engine too much, it’s the coolant running within the car engine that’s cooling it. Moving air only ever cool the engine so slightly that it’s considered negligible, and i dare say, it won’t matter. If your engine run hot while idling for a long time, there’s likely an issue with your engine cooling system, be it clogged radiator, faulty waterpump, bad thermostats, etc etc.
Also AC condenser is usually locate in front of a radiator, right at the front grille, and its cooled with a fan sucking air in from the outside. A slightly hot engine compartment does not affect the cooling capability much as the air flow will not allow the hot air to reach the condenser. The fan also blow right at the engine, so the argument of less air flowing through the engine compartment does not make sense to me.
If your compressor spoiled earlier than it would because you idle a lot, it’s not because it’s being run in idle and idling cause it to fail early, it’s because while it’s idling you’re using it, as people usually judge a car usage by the mileage and never calculate how much they leave their car in idle, making it feels like it failed prematurely. It’s a total myth that doesn’t make any sense.
Also it’s a hybrid.
Source: am mechanic
The 1yr old and 2 yr old were left alone in a car, for
90150 minutes.This was negligience long before a child died.
Edit - misread the times, its so much worse.
Also you’re supposed to wait a full year before becoming pregnant again after having a kid so your body can heal and re-normalize. Having kids that close together is hell for parenting and hell for your body
Yeah I still think she should be charged with child endangerment though because you never leave kids that young (too young apparently to open the door and leave) alone unattended, especially for that long.
…and especially in a running car.
I’m emphasizing that even if she had left them.in her home for that long, it is wrong. Obviously it is worse because of the car
Setting aside the specifics of the case, I do think that from a UI standpoint, cars either need to support being left in park without the climate control eventually cutting off or be so extremely clear that this will happen that it would be extremely difficult for a user to miss, as this is a legitimate example of a “fail-deadly” feature.
IIRC from reading comments from people who have slept in their car and very much want the ability to leave the climate control system active, at least some Toyota models do support leaving the climate control active for extended periods of time, but the car needs to be in “Ready” mode. It was not immediately obvious to users that this was the case.
I own the same car, and it does tell you the car will turn off after an hour. As soon as the door is opened, you get a “car will automatically turn off after one hour. Do you want to disable this” type of message. It also pings you with the same message in the app.
Also, she left a one year old and a two year old completely unsupervised for two and a half hours. I wouldn’t even trust a four year old with that much unsupervised time; little kids are personified suicide attempts.
You always plead not guilty when arraigned. That gives your lawyer time to make a deal with the prosecutor.
IANAL but isn’t that the purpose of a “no contest” plea? Its a plea somewhere between guilty and not-guilty without the bad look of pleading not-guilty on something you’re obviously guilty of
You’re always allowed to change your plea. You should not plea to anything (in fact you shouldn’t talk to the cops at all) until you’ve discussed your situation with your lawyer.