5 kids suffer heat exhaustion in car without air conditioning; Fort Worth father arrested

Five young kids were found suffering from heat exhaustion Sunday in a car that did not have an air conditioner running, Fort Worth police said.

Their father was booked into the Fort Worth Jail early Monday in the case.

The children, ages 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6, were found in a southeast Fort Worth neighborhood on Sunday night and taken to a local hospital.

Patrol officers responded to a call for an investigation about 8 p.m. Sunday in the 3500 block of Littlejohn Avenue after someone reported seeing several children inside a vehicle.

Officers arrived, saw a man in the yard and checked his vehicle, which was parked with the engine running, police said. Officers saw several children inside who appeared to be either sleeping or passed out.

The high temperature on Sunday reached 100, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

The five children were immediately removed and placed inside police cars, which were air conditioned.

MedStar arrived on the scene and determined that the children needed to be transported to a local hospital because they were suffering from heat exhaustion, police said.

Police arrested the kids’ father, 29-year-old Jose Leal of Fort Worth. Leal faces five counts of abandonment/endangerment to a child/bodily injury.