On hot summer days, leaving children unattended in vehicles can quickly become life-threatening. Every year, tragic headlines remind parents of the real danger: heatstroke can occur in minutes, sometimes with fatal consequences. That’s why law enforcement agencies across the country remain alert, especially during heat waves, watching for signs of children left in parked cars.
Officer Jason Short of the Keene Police Department in New Hampshire found himself in exactly that situation when he responded to an urgent call outside a Walmart. A concerned passerby reported seeing what appeared to be a baby alone in a parked car on a scorching afternoon.
Officer Short rushed to the scene without hesitation.
“I got there as soon as I could,” he told WMUR. “I don’t know how fast I was going, but it was quick.”
Through the car window, he spotted what looked like an infant wrapped in a blanket, its small feet visible. With temperatures rising and no time to spare, Officer Short broke the window with his baton and carefully lifted what he believed to be an unresponsive child from the vehicle.
“It looked lifeless and pale,” he recalled. “I feared the worst.”
Continue reading on next page…