Laws About Leaving Your Child in the Car in Colorado

Leaving a child in a cold car can lead to hypothermia.child in the car image by Natalia Pavlova from Fotolia.com

Leaving a child in a car by herself can be extremely dangerous; heat exhaustion, stroke, dehydration, hypothermia, frostbite and death are all possible outcomes. Although there are no specific laws in Colorado that govern leaving a child in a vehicle, there are applicable laws in the area of child abuse. According to Colorado statute 18-6-401, if a person causes a child to be placed in a situation that causes that child harm, that person is guilty of child abuse.

Death

If a one-year-old child is left in a car on purpose, with the windows rolled up in one-hundred-degree temperatures, and the child dies, that person is guilty of class-two-felony child abuse. Class-two-felony child abuse carries a penalty of eight to 24 years of imprisonment. If a parent leaves her child in a vehicle without the intent of harm and that child dies from negligence, it is a class-three felony in Colorado. Class-three felonies carry a sentence of four to 12 years.

Any time negligence leads to serious injury to a child, the person whose negligence caused that injury is guilty of a class-four felony. If a child, alone in a hot car, has to be hospitalized because of dehydration, the parent responsible can be sentenced to two to six years. If there is injury to the child, but this injury is not considered serious, then the negligent party is guilty of a class-one misdemeanor. Misdemeanors are more likely to be punished with fines, rather than jail time.

It is a class-two misdemeanor when a person acts recklessly but no death or injury is caused to the child. A judge might find a person who leaves his child in a hot car without air conditioning (even though no harm came to the child) guilty of class-two misdemeanor child abuse.