Miami Police Officer's Wife Dies After Getting Trapped In His Police SUV

The wife of a veteran Miami police officer died after getting trapped in the back seat of his police-issued SUV. Clara Paulino, 56, reportedly climbed into the back seat while looking for something when the door closed behind her.

The doors on the SUV can only be opened from the outside, while a safety partition prevented her from reaching into the front seat to honk the horn for help. She did not have her cellphone and was unable to contact her husband, Aristides Paulino, who was asleep inside their home following a midnight shift.

She struggled to escape as the temperature outside soared into the 90s. Detectives said they found her fingerprints were all over the interior of the Ford Explorer.

"Clearly, she was panicked and trying to get out," an anonymous source from the department told the Miami Herald.

Paulino discovered his wife's body around 5:30 p.m., more than four hours after she got trapped.

Officials are investigating her tragic death and are waiting for the autopsy report to determine her exact cause of death. A law enforcement source told the Herald that Clara had a history of medical problems that may have contributed to her death.

"Horrible, horrible, horrible, imagine someone, that happening to someone," neighbor Daphne Steward told WTVJ. "She loved her family and her children, and I believe it's just an unfortunate situation."

Photo: Getty Images