(a) Notwithstanding chapter 571 or any other law to the contrary, a person violates this section if the person, being the operator or an adult passenger of a motor vehicle, leaves the motor vehicle for five minutes or longer when an unattended child is inside the vehicle, regardless of whether the operator or adult passenger is charged with the care or custody of the child.
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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-121.5

  • Authorized emergency vehicle: includes fire department vehicles, police vehicles, ambulances, ocean safety vehicles, law enforcement vehicles, and conservation and resources enforcement vehicles authorized and approved pursuant to section 291-31. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
  • Motor vehicle: means every vehicle which is self-propelled and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power but not operated upon rails but excludes a moped. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
  • Police officer: means every officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
  • Vehicle: means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a roadway or highway, including mopeds and bicycles, but excluding toy bicycles, devices other than bicycles moved by human power, and devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-1
(b) Any law enforcement officer, firefighter, or rescue team personnel who observes a child left unattended in a motor vehicle and determines that the unattended child is in physical danger, or poses a danger to others, may use whatever means are reasonably necessary to protect the child or others and remove the child from the motor vehicle. If the person who left the motor vehicle with an unattended child inside cannot be located within a reasonable time, the law enforcement officer, firefighter, or rescue team personnel, upon removing the child from the motor vehicle, shall immediately report the matter to a police officer, as defined under section [ 587A-4 ], who may assume protective custody of the child without a court order and without the consent of the child’s family.
(c) Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and rescue team personnel shall not be liable in any civil action to any party for any act performed in good faith under this section.
(d) As used in this section:

“Child” means a person under the age of nine.

“Rescue team personnel” means physicians, basic life support personnel, advanced life support personnel, surgeons, nurses, volunteers, or employees of the owners or operators of a hospital or authorized emergency vehicle who have been trained in basic or advanced life support and have been charged by the owners or operators of the hospital or authorized emergency vehicle with providing life support and resuscitation to persons who are in immediate danger of loss of life in cases of emergency.

“Unattended” means leaving a child:

(1) Alone in a motor vehicle; or
(2) In a motor vehicle with a minor under the age of twelve.
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