A police officer's wife died after she got stuck in the caged back seat of a police SUV in 92-degree heat

• A Florida police officer's wife has died after she got trapped in the caged back of a her husband's patrol car in high temperatures on Friday, according to multiple reports.
• Clara Paulino had gone to the car to look for something while her husband slept. The door somehow closed on her, NBC Miami reported.
• Police patrol cars of this kind have a back seat cage, bars on the windows and a self-locking mechanism that can only be released from the outside, the channel reported.
• Her body was found around four hours after she first went in, according to the Miami Herald.

The wife of a Florida police officer has died after she was trapped in the back of her husband's patrol car in sweltering temperatures on Friday, according to multiple reports.

56-year-old Clara Paulino, wife of Miami-Dade officer Aristides Paulino, became stuck in the SUV parked outside of their home, NBC Miami reported.

The death was confirmed Monday by Matthew Reyes, the vice president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, the channel reported.

On Friday afternoon, Paulino climbed into the back seat of the car, looking for something while her husband slept after a midnight shift, according to ABC News. Sources told the Miami Herald that he had left the car unlocked.

Somehow, the door closed and car's self-locking mechanism was activated. Paulino was trapped inside, as temperatures soared, for around four hours, ABC News said.

Online weather records show that temperatures across Miami that day reached 89 degrees. Local TV channel WSVN 7 News said that by late afternoon it had been as high as 92.

The car's back seat — designed to ensure detained suspects can't get out — has a cage separating the back from the front, with bars on the windows, Reyes told NBC Miami. Once closed, the door can only be opened from the outside.

Paulino was found by her husband and one of her sons at around 5.30pm, some four hours after she had first got in, the Miami Herald reported.

Her fingerprints were found all over the inside of the SUV, the paper said. An unnamed source told the Herald: "Clearly, she was panicked and trying to get out."

The couple's son, also called Aristides, told the paper on Monday he was not ready to speak about his mother. "We haven't even buried her yet, and it's a lot of pain," he said.

Miami-Dade Police's homicide bureau is investigating and are treating the death as an accident, the paper reported.

Insider has contacted Miami-Dade Police for comment but did not immediately receive a reply.

Miami Police said in a statement: "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," according to NBC Miami.