For second time in a week, Phoenix police rescue child trapped in a hot car
By CARISSA PLANALP
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PHOENIX, Arizona (KPHO, KTVK) — For the second time in a week, Phoenix police officers rescued a child locked in a hot car.
Last week, officers responded to a home near Van Buren and 52nd streets, when a frantic mom called 911 for help. The woman had returned home from the grocery store and was preparing to bring in her bags and her 2-year-old son, when she accidently locked herself out of her minivan. Her son was still inside the vehicle.
Body camera footage captures Ofc. Michael Coddington and Ofc. Mike Mehlhouse responding to the incident. Police busted through one of the windows to try to get into the van, but the locks would not budge. Coddington gives his partner a boost, and Mehlhouse climbs in to help the crying toddler.
“It’s such a helpless feeling,” says Mehlhouse as he described the rescue to Arizona’s Family. “I can imagine what she was feeling. I felt horrible for her and I felt horrible for the child.”
Both officers described a feeling of relief has they helped the child out of the heat and into the arms of a parent.
“After he was checked out, it was great to see he was playing with his Legos and having a good time,” says Coddington. “It was great to see that resolution.”
Just two days before that incident, Phoenix police officers were called out to rescue two other children trapped in a hot car. That incident involved similar circumstances with a mother locking her keys in the vehicle.
Both Phoenix incidents happened last week when Maricopa County was under an excessive heat warning.
So far this year, seven children have died in hot cars across the country. That’s according to NoHeatStroke.org a group that tracks media reports about child heat deaths. Last year marked a historic low with 25 vehicular child heat deaths. First responders want to keep the death toll as close to zero as possible.
“There’s never a quick enough moment to leave your child in the car,” says Mehlhouse. “In this heat, even a couple minutes is not ok.”
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