'I Can Barely Breathe': Dad in Hot Car Video Goes Viral

Terry Bartley sweats in warning message
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 15, 2014 11:25 AM CDT

With children's deaths in hot cars making headlines this summer, a North Carolina dad is demonstrating the very real dangers involved—by experimenting on himself. Terry Bartley filmed himself sitting in a baking car with the windows closed in heat he says is approaching 90 degrees. Covered in sweat, he tells the camera, "I can barely breathe out here. But my system is stronger than these little kids' systems." The resulting video has garnered more than 1.3 million hits on YouTube.

Bartley, who has three children, spoke to the New York Daily News about his experience: He was only able to stay in the car for about 20 minutes, he says. "It was almost like someone was in the car choking me." Others have followed Bartley's lead, taking videos of themselves in a similar predicament, the Daily News notes. "We go through this every, every year," Bartley notes in the video. "Do you really love your kids? That's what you should ask yourself." (More North Carolina stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X