Samaritan Hot Car Law allows you to break a window if you see a child or pet in a hot car

13 On Your Side's Vanessa Gongora spoke with the Yuma Police Department about the actions you can take to save a life

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - It's never safe to leave your child or pet in a vehicle, especially in a hot car, because it could lead to death.

If you happen to see a kid or animal in this situation, the Samaritan Hot Car Law allows you to break a window without civil liability, though there are rules you must abide by.

They must appear to be in distress, check to see if the car is locked then call the authorities.

Sgt. Lori Franklin with the Yuma Police Department says once those steps are complete, then you're able to break the window with little damage as possible.

"You're going to have something like a punch or something at least with a sharp edge to beat on the window with. But again there's a lot of things nowadays that they sell flashlights with a little point tip on it, which just pushing against it will shatter the glass," says Franklin.

Lastly, stay with the child or pet until police arrive.

According to noheatstroke.org, over 900 children have died due to pediatric vehicular heatstroke (pvh) since 1998.

Arizona is fourth in the U.S. behind California with the most PVH deaths at 43.

All of these deaths could have been prevented.

It doesn't matter if the car is running or the air conditioner is on, you still run the risk of losing your child or pet.

Debra Nolen, founder of dontleaveme.org, a non-profit organization that advocates for animals, initiated the samaritan hot car bill with her college students.

It was passed in May 2017.

Now they are continuing to spread awareness.

"We hand out these. These are our heat charts. I mean your car can get up to 122 degrees in 30 minutes at just 75 degrees," Nolen explains.

Their campaign is 'love em don't leave em.'

"And we're proud. We have the Cardinals Nicole Bidwill took the pledge. We have the CEO of the Diamondbacks," says Nolen.

The campaign starts Sunday May 7.

If you would like to take the pledge and be a part of the movement, you can send a picture of you and your pets to their facebook.

They will create the ad, send it back to you and then you can share on your social media pages.