By Erika Hernandez
May 23, 2024, 7:32 PM EDT
Bodycam footage captured the moment a Florida officer broke a car window to rescue a 1-year-old who was accidentally locked in inside the vehicle without the engine running.
The incident occurred around 5 p.m. outside a Palm Coast Walmart on May 20, the Flager County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) said in a statement posted on Facebook.
When officers arrived at the scene, a man and woman were standing outside a Nissan Altima. The subject said he had placed the child in the car and walked around to the other side before realizing the door was locked and the keys were inside.
The man and woman told the agents The boy had been in the car for about 8 to 10 minutes before help arrived. According to FCSO, the child was observed “sweating and appeared distressed.”
Officer Christian Harrison immediately said he needed to break the window to get the child out of the car. The boy’s mother can be heard saying, “No, no, no,” as he tells her, “I have to do it. He has been trapped there.”
Harrison used an agency-issued tool to break the rear passenger window. After cleaning the rest of the window with his folding cane, the child was recovered and found to be well after being evaluated by fire department paramedics.
“Although this was an accident, I would like to take this moment to remind parents of the dangers of leaving a child in a parked car at any time, especially if it is not running,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in a department release. on Facebook.
“Heat stroke can happen very quickly, even if it doesn’t seem that hot outside. Remember, if you have a heartbeat, don’t leave it in your car,” she added.
TOAt least 1,093 children have died in the US from heat stroke between 1990 and 2023 after being left behind in closed, unventilated vehicles.according to a study prepared by Kids and Car Safety and released last Friday.
Most of these deaths occur under three circumstances: children are left behind in vehicles (55%), they access the vehicle themselves (25%) or they are knowingly left inside the vehicle (15%).
The state of Texas ranks first in deaths, with 155, followed by Florida (118) and California (65).
On average, about 38 children die in vehicles in the United States each year due to heat stroke, with 2018 and 2019 being the two worst years of the last 33 years, with 54 and 53 deaths, respectively.
In 2023, there were 29 accidental child deaths in vehicles at high temperatures, with the state of Florida leading the way, with seven children dying.
Keep reading:
- Three young children died in hot cars in the US in less than a week
- 11-month-old baby dies after being left in car while parents went to church in Florida
- 1-year-old boy died after being left in a hot car for nine hours