A rectal thermometer would accomplish this feat more accurately and easily.
Yeah “defamation” does point that way.
I just thought this was funny:
Well, duh.
SHAKES for the win.
I think I’m missing something here. If the keys were locked in the car, what was she going to use to drive home to get the spare key?
Yeah, except you need to have same said child out of the car to do that, and I also don’t know many cops who’d want to jam a rectal thermometer in a kid’s rear after breaking them out of the car. I think Zabali was talking about measuring the temperature from outside to determine whether or not the situation was dangerous, prior to taking action.
No way nohow. You never ever leave a child unattended in a car, especially not a toddler and especially not in summer, no matter how quick you think you’re going to be. That’s basic. It can be a pain in the arse unstrapping them and taking them with you for a short errand, but that’s your responsibility as a parent: doing otherwise, in any circumstances, is negligent. Unfortunately, a quick read through the newspapers will show that there are plenty parents negligent to the point of their child’s death out there: what are the cops supposed to do, peer through the windows until the kid goes limp and then break the glass?
That’s what I’m wondering. maybe she thought another cop would come and drive her home, while the first one would watch her kid?
JFTR, firefighters do (or should) have tools to get into locked cars, but slimjims don’t always work anymore on newer cars. There are specialized tools that pry open the door a little bit and then a long tool that reaches in to pop the lock.
I’m an EMT with a volunteer company and we carry these tools on all of our equipment. Once you know how to use it, it’s pretty easy, and it doesn’t damage the car*.
It sounds like just the cops showed up and got a little over-zealous. “Oh, cool, we get to break a car window!” - although if the child had been in there a while and it was hot, they were completely justified in breaking the window.
- This will not work on BMWs and Saabs - you have to break the window on those cars. Too bad.
For what it’s worth, I also locked my baby in the car in Connecticut on a summer day. It was at a rest stop on I95, somewhere close to the Rhode Island border. I got out of the car, went around to get the Beansprout out of his seat, and…the car was locked and the keys were inside! I still have no idea how it could have happened.
Fortunately, it was a cool foggy summer day, so I wasn’t especially worried about the car heating up immediately. There was nobody about in the parking lot, so I sprinted into the rest area and called 911. I debated calling a locksmith or something, but decided call 911 and ask them what to do. They said they would send help. Ten minutes later, a fire truck arrived. The firemen also determined that there was no immediate danger of the car overheating, and the Sprout was doing just fine, so they fiddled around with a slim-jim for a bit and eventually got the lock popped. They told me that they might have to break a window if the slim-jim didn’t work. I said that was just fine. I spent the time that they were working on the car talking to the Beansprout through the door, reassuring him.
The firemen were totally calm and professional, and very nice. They gave me a light scolding for not keeping an extra key in my wallet, admired the Beansprout, and went on their merry way.
Their first concern was with getting my son out safely, but they did try to be careful not to damage the car. I guess I just find it hard to believe that police or firemen would be all het up to break a car window if they didn’t have to–if only to avoid unneccessary paperwork!
So what was different in the case reported in the OP? Maybe that day was hotter. Maybe they thought the kid had been in the car longer than the mother said. Maybe they knew that they wouldn’t be able to pop the lock on that car. Maybe the mother didn’t seem overly concerned about or engaged with the child. Maybe she expressed way more worry about the damage to the car than the damage to the child.
If the latter two were true, then I think it made good sense to take the kid to the hospital, even if they weren’t actually that worried about overheating. There they would have the opportunity to check it for signs of abuse or neglect. It’s not that I think locking your kid in the car is evidence of abuse or neglect–obviously–but if I observed a mother who seemed indifferent to the fact that her child was in a hazardous situation, I’d probably take it as a red flag. If I had some reasonable excuse to get the child to a hospital for a look-see, I’d probably do it. Couldn’t hurt. Might help…a lot.
Let me get this right. You guys now figure it is the policemen’s job to babysit a kid in a car for an indeterminate amount of time because someone locked their keys in the car. What fucking planet do you live on that that is a good use of resorces. Ok she had to pay the window guy, and that isn’t cheap, but why the hell should her mistake be on the taxpayers dime. They are supposed to somehow trust that she is gonna be right back. Riiight. Clearly you have never writen a hall pass.
That was Eleusis’ point, that she may have been standing next to the car the whole time, and she never left the kid unattended.
I guess I’m in the “we don’t have enough information for a self-righteous Pitting” camp. Was the woman a shrieking harpy, refusing to let them break the window at any cost, or was she casually saying, 'You know, I could go get another key at home, guys, and you wouldn’t have to do this. I live right around the block."
Isn’t it dangerous to break a car window with someone inside? I’ve seen smashed side windows, and they don’t stick together like windshields - they shatter into lots of itty bitty pieces. Weren’t they risking cutting the child? Did the child, in fact, get cut and was *that *the medical attention required?
Who knows? We sure don’t, not from that article.
I disagree somewhat with the “plenty of dumb to go around” sentiment.
911 is for emergencies. The people who answer the phone are trained to handle emergencies. When this lady called to report her child locked in her car, they treated it as – duh! – an emergency!
The lady herself is entirely to blame. If she had been thinking clearly, she should have called a locksmith, as noted above, because the situation really was not an emergency.
But that’s not what she did. She called 911 and the fire department showed up and dutifully got her child out in the only way an emergency responder is going to handle the situation – as an emergency. So she’s out $250 for a broken window. Lesson learned, right lady?
If the windows were rolled down, then I’d have to question the intelligence of everyone involved! 
The very existence of this thread helps prove that breaking the window was the right thing to do. All this debate and finger pointing and threats over a $250 window repair. This is why someone stepped up and did something. They had a pair. Debates can be had over a busted piece of glass, but a rescuer is not there to consider the debate when the kid sits and no one acts.
Wonder how much debate would take place if anyone even SUSPECTED there was something even MINOR wrong with little Junior because he spent 10-15 minutes longer in the car than was absolutely necessary. I don’t even want to see that debate.
Operating on worst case scenario reasoning:
Break window = kid rescued as soon as possible. Cost $250
Wait for keys = kid rescue is delayed. Cost: Undetermined impact on health, slim chance of death.
911 = **emergency ** response (parent mistake number 2)
Kid locked in car = potential emergency (parent mistake number 1)
Break a window. Hell, it’s an Audi; break all the windows.
Followup regarding points raised: I noted that the incident took place during July. If it’s not hot and the child isn’t in danger, then the only pitting is a dumbass for calling 911 in a non-emergency.
While I realize that some emergency departments carry car opening tools, they are a minority. Those departments around me ceased the practice for one reason: Say the word with me- LI-A-BIL-I-TY. Scratch a car? Get sued. Screw up window linkage? Get sued. Damage or trigger a side airbag? Get sued. Kudos to any department who still does-we concentrate our efforts on traditional fire and rescue ops.
A number of departments carry a type of adhesive sheeting to place on the exterior of windows prior to popping the glass. This minimizes the amount of fragmented glass directed into the vehicle interior.
I, too wondered what she planned to use to “drive home”. Mebbe she thought she could use the patrol car of the cops she was asking to babysit her kid?
As far as why she was arrested, it was likely (I don’t know the laws of her state) some variant of “interference with the operations of a police officer/firefighter”. When you call 911, a significant degree of situation control is now the purview of others. Had I been on the engine company, my options are to fart around while hoping nothing happens to the child, or pop the window. Sorry-the window loses. If you don’t like that deal, then don’t call 911.
Thanks for savingme some typing. Well said.
I didn’t phrase that very well, did I? I meant “rolled completely up” versus “open a little”. Even if they were open a little, they might still have had to break them depending on the make of the car. Some cars have locks that can’t be undone from the outside, or maybe the emergency crew didn’t have the tools to do so.
Um, the theory you are getting upset about includes she may have payed at the pump. That means she would never have been more than 3 feet from the vehicle. Read carefully before you get all upset about something that the person didn’t even say.
Looking up the historical weather charts for Stamford, CT, it reached 89 degrees on the day in question. (Sorry, temp file, can’t link) I think that’s plently hot enough for cops and firemen to be granted the benefit of the doubt about the safety of the kid inside.
What’s more, cops and firemen are probably more accustomed to dealing with kids locked in cars on hot days, so seem to be in a better position than a mother to judge the danger to the child.
I could see that someone would think the cops were acting unreasonably to smash a window if one believes that the kid was not in any danger. However, nearly 90 degree weather can make a car damn hot very quickly.
My vote is with the cops on this one. They aren’t babysitters, and I think it was an entirely unreasonable request to have cops sit around and guard a kid while the mother runs off to return who-knows-when. The police and firemen should have their first responsibility to the safety of the child, second to the respect for property, and lastly to the convinience of the mother.
We carry the tools - it’s a couple of plastic wedges to pry the door open a bit and a small pillow that you stick into the door frame and then inflate. This gets the door open about an inch or so. Then you stick a long metal pole in that can be used to reach over and trigger the lock. Our county gets calls for “Non-emergency lock-out detail” very often, although when a child is in the car, it’s considered an emergency call.
When I was learning to use the tools, I asked about liability, and was told not to worry - they couldn’t sue if we damaged the car or broke a window, since it was for an emergency situation.
The police are always dispatched to such calls also, and if the window needs to be broken, they do it, rather then us.
There used to be a company called Pop-A-Lock that would come and open your cars doors for you (for a fee), but I don’t know if they’re still in business around here. I wonder if the liability issue got to them. I used to see the cars all the time, but not anymore.
That’s what I wondered. I guess she thought one of the other cops would take her home and one would stay with the kid? What a moron.
I think the risk to the child has been overstated. If the kid is awake, alert and not crying, there is no need to panic and break a window. If any of those are not true, then go ahead and break the window.