Mildly Infuriating

Update: https://www.turnto23.com/news/in-your-neighborhood/bakersfield/witness-attorney-speak-out-following-hearing-on-hot-car-death-case

The approach the defense attorney seems to be taking is interesting. Seems to be leaning heavily on a "she's just a kid, doesn't have an adult brain yet" assertion.

Ian Bleu, who was inside the spa with his dog and a friend at the time of the incident, said Hernandez mentioned having children but never disclosed they were in the vehicle outside. Bleu described a calm atmosphere inside the business until an employee discovered one of the children in distress.

“The kid, it was like, sweating — red, purple — like, it was real bad,” Bleu said. “And then Maya walked in with the other kid and he was just, like, limp.”

Bleu told police and emergency responders that he had walked his dog near Maya’s vehicle and saw no signs that the air conditioning was running or that the windows were down, contradicting statements Hernandez reportedly made to authorities.

He also said she appeared emotionally detached as emergency crews attempted to revive the children. “She didn’t even look like she cared,” Bleu said. “We were about to cry, and the cops thought we were the parents.”

Hernandez’s defense attorney Teryl D. Wakeman urged the public not to rush to judgment, emphasizing that her client is only 20 and that the legal process is still in its early stages.

“She’s barely 20. And a charge is not a fact — it’s a charge,” the attorney said. “You would want someone to look into all the aspects of the case — medical, mental health, background — before deciding.”

Wakeman also suggested the case reflects a broader issue with how young adults are treated in the justice system, arguing that brain development continues into a person's mid-20s.

It's amazing how lethal cars are and we drive them every day without a care in the world. I never think about the particulate pollution spewing from my brakes or the noxious gases emitted from the exhaust. I don't consider the pedestrians I will eventually hit if I drive long enough. I never think about anyone dying in my car from heatstroke. I think of my vehicle as the best and only solution to all of my transportation needs because every problem looks like a nail when your only tool is a hammer.

Is this woman crazy? What kind of sane person would leave their kid alone in a car for two hours, especially in this heat?

Reading news like this always breaks my heart because I can't imagine the kid's suffering before they died. Hugging my little ones a little tighter today 😓

However, her 2022 Toyota Corolla Hybrid is equipped with an automatic feature that turns the engine off if it has been left running for one hour while in park, police said. Police estimate that the engine turned off around 3 p.m. and the children were left without air conditioning until Hernandez returned around 4:30 p.m.>

Looks like she left the car on and it shut itself off. Still inexcusably stupid, but it wasn't quite as brain dead as just deciding to leave them in a hot car in the middle of summer.

Her child died because of her stupidity and the over-engineering of the 2022 Toyota Corolla. c/fuckcars

I don't understand how someone makes the logical leaps they do in these kinds of cases. Even from a purely selfish stand point, the risk of exactly what happened and the fallout are just not worth it to make that appointment right then and there or just have the kids sit in the lobby.

I must be losing my grip on reality, trying to reason why someone that thinks this way does the things they do.

Unfortunately this is a pretty common occurrence. There was a big furor about it about a decade ago with a social media fad called the "hot car challenge" where adults would sit in hot cars turned off in the sun to see how long they could last in them ostensibly to build awareness of the problem, and there were all sorts of helpful tips and design changes made to cars and phones to try to make it more difficult to forget your kids in hot cars. Myself I wonder if any of it had any actual impact because surely the sort of people who leave their kids in hot cars aren't the smartest and probably don't keep up with safety PSAs about the issue.

She has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is being held in lieu of $1,080,000 bail,

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

However, her 2022 Toyota Corolla Hybrid is equipped with an automatic feature that turns the engine off if it has been left running for one hour while in park, police said. Police estimate that the engine turned off around 3 p.m. and the children were left without air conditioning until Hernandez returned around 4:30 p.m.

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

Setting aside the ethics and children for a bit, I am disturbed by the idea of leaving a car running on a battery for an hour or longer. That is a good way to run down the battery and needing a AAA towing. Alternatively, leaving the engine on would use up gas. Plus, just general wear and tear on the vehicle.

Cars are expensive enough as it is.