Miami police officer’s wife dies after getting trapped in back of his police SUV

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. — The wife of a Miami police officer died after she was trapped for hours in the back seat of his patrol SUV at the family’s South Florida home, authorities said.

According to Matthew Reyes, vice president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, Clara Paulino, 56, died Friday after getting trapped in the SUV outside her Miami Shores home, WTVJ reported. Her husband, Officer Aristides Paulino with the City of Miami Police Department, was sleeping inside the home after finishing a midnight shift, the Miami Herald reported.

Investigators called Clara Paulino’s death a “horrific accident.” Detectives believe that Paulino climbed into the backseat of his marked Ford Explorer SUV while searching for something, then could not escape when the doors of the vehicle closed and a self-locking mechanism was activated, the newspaper reported.

Claudia Paulino’s family discovered her body shortly after 5 p.m., the Herald reported. Detectives believe the partition between the back seat and the front seat prevented her from getting to the horn, and she did not have her cellphone with her, the newspaper reported.

Temperatures in South Florida soared above 90 degrees Friday. At 1 p.m., the heat index was at 91 degrees, while it was at 92 when Claudia Paulino’s body was found, WSVN reported.

Aristides Paulino, 58, is a 25-year veteran who has worked the midnight shift for two decades, the Herald reported. The couple has been married for 38 years.

Their son, also named Aristides Paulino, said Monday the family was not ready to talk about his mother.

“We haven’t even buried her yet, and it’s a lot of pain,” he told the Herald.

“It’s a very unfortunate situation that I know everybody’s trying to figure out, but I say, for me, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter to me,” Daphne Stewart, a neighbor, told WSVN. “My friend, neighbor is gone, and I’m sure it was horrifying for her and horrifying for her family.”

In a statement, the Miami-Dade Police Department declined comments and said the case remained under investigation.

“Miami PD will not be making any comments on this matter at this time as it is being investigated by the Miami-Dade Police Department,” the statement said.

Cox Media Group