A Snyder woman was arrested in Odessa, Texas on Sunday, May 22, after cops said she left her kids in a car with no air conditioning. Gloria Benitez has been charged by police with two counts of Child Endangerment.
According to an affidavit, an officer with the Odessa Police Department was flagged down around 12:20 in the morning while he was working security at a bar on 8th Street. The person who flagged the police officer down said two children were left alone in a vehicle, according to Concho Valley Homepage.
The officer stated he found the car and saw two little girls, later confirmed to be ages seven and five, inside the vehicle crying. The officer said the car was turned off and the windows were rolled up. Police said that when the children opened the door for them, the inside of the SUV was hot. The kids said they did not know where their mother was when asked by police.
Hot cars dangerous especially for children
Police eventually found the mother, identified as Benitez, who said she had been arguing with her ex-boyfriend in the parking lot. The 33-year-old mom told Odessa police she had only been away from her two children for about 10 minutes.
Luckily for Benitez, nothing unfortunate happened to her children as according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), it only takes minutes for a hot car to become dangerous for young kids.
The NHTSA stated on its website that a child's body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult's. According to the NHTSA, when a child is left in a hot vehicle, his or her temperature can rise quickly and they could die within minutes.
The federal agency also said that children should never be left alone in a vehicle, even if the engine is running or the windows are open. The NHTSA said that children dying from heatstroke in cars has increased in recent years with the reason being because they were left in the vehicle or became trapped.
Benitez smelled of alcohol during her arrest
A record 53 children died of vehicular heatstroke each year in 2018 and 2019. That number dropped in 2020 during the public health emergency with 25 children losing their lives in hot cars. A total of 23 kids died in 2021 after suffering heatstroke inside a vehicle. WBKO reported that there have been 907 child hot car deaths since 1998, according to data from the NHTSA.
In addition to Benitez reportedly leaving her children alone in a hot car, she was also reported to have been drinking prior to the incident. According to the police officer who responded to the incident, Benitez had glossy eyes and smelled of alcohol.
Additionally, open containers of alcohol were found inside Benitez's vehicle. Officers also discovered later that Benitez had been driving with a suspended license. Benitez was taken to the Ector County Law Enforcement Center upon her arrest where she was later released on a combined $20,000 bond.
