Rent A Cops just got in the way while this lady saved the baby. I am puzzled why she did it the hard way? Breaking the door glass would have been so much simpler and she wouldn’t have cut her arms reaching for the door lock.
Hard to imagine bystanders just standing there with a baby in trouble. What was the matter with them?
It seems kind of stupid to smash the windshield, you’d have to reach really far to get a door handle. A back seat window or the window opposite the baby makes the most sense. Maybe they weren’t telling her not to break the window but to not break that particular window.
Breaking the windshield might be better!
I know someone who had this happen to his car, only they broke a side window. Then the insurance company refused to pay for it, saying that the state law requiring no-deduction coverage for auto glass only applied to the windshields, not the side windows. (And the side windows were surprisingly expensive, not that much cheaper than a windshield. Had to disassemble the door, with the power locks & windows, and the installation work was much longer than doing a windshield.)
Who the fuck leaves a baby in a locked car whole they go in a grocery store?!
That is insane, and I assume they couldn’t be located via PA system(to the “parent” who owns the blue Chrysler with license plate #XXXXXX please go unlock the car and save your baby) or shouting in store for whoever left a baby in their car to come save it?
What a parent.
If the baby was in the back seat she may have chosen to break the windshield because it was farthest from the baby. That is, she may have been afraid of hurting the baby with broken glass.
If someone left their baby in a hot car would you really care about saving them some money?
This was my immediate thought. In fact, seems obvious to me.
Safety glass is designed not to cut people when it shatters. The good Samaritan may not have known that.
Idiots, that’s who. You’d think by now people would be aware of how quickly temperatures can rise inside a car on even an ordinarily warm day, but apparently not yet. And this one doesn’t seem to be one of those awful forgetfulness cases - pretty hard for both him and the twelve-year-old to forget at the same time.
And for 40 minutes! In Texas, this has to be more than simple idiocy.
I assume the kid was in a car seat, those usually lift right out and provide a handle so they could have put the baby in a cart, hell in the USA I’ve seen some groceries have special carts with baby holder chairs. And the 12 year old couldn’t have taken care of the baby while the father shopped.
Or even, taken a list and gone shopping.
Then this part of the story seems strange.
I dunno, the baby was probably in the back seat and breaking a side front window seems like it would be less dangerous - think of the angle of the force: breaking the windshield = glass fragments mostly flying backward; breaking a side window = glass fragments mostly flying sideways.
I always cut the baby into pieces first. 
Smashing the windshield would also piss off the car owner more, since it would have to be replaced. That’d be at least part of my motivation. Hell, I might have smashed the windshield, realized “oh, darn, can’t reach the door lock from here without cutting myself,” and then smashed a side window. Maybe a couple more windows, to get that cross-ventilation going while I work on getting the baby out.
+1
I’m an EMT who’s also certified in Vehicle Rescue. I’ve broken lots of car glass, both in training & on the scene of rescues. Good on her in theory, not great in execution.
The windshield is different than the rest of the windows in a car. Being on the front of the car, windshields are subject to much greater forces (hence their name) & are made differently than other car glass. They are a laminate of multiple layers which are very hard to break, & when they do, contain sharp edges that will cut you. They make specialized windshield saws that cost a few hundred dollars.
Other glass is safety glass which can be broken by just pushing hard enough with a pointed object, like a window punch or a rescue hammer (2 for $6 on Amazon). Once the glass is shattered, pushing on it will cause the little pieces to fall harmlessly to the floor/ground.
If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, go for side glass furthest from the ‘victim’ as it’s both easier & safer to break.
Not really. She reached through the window and sliced her arm on the jagged edges. Safety glass often breaks in car wrecks and showers the people inside the car. Usually with little or no cutting. They can cut themselves on a piece if they slide over it getting out of the car. It takes some kind of friction contact (rubbing against it) to cut. Compare that too regular glass which would send knife like shards right at the people during a wreck.
According to the post above yours, windshield glass is different from side glass and can cut you. The difference appears to be that windshield glass takes a lot of force to break through because it is laminated - it usually just shatters “in place”, with the shattered bits sticking together. Side window glass, on the other hand, shatters into small, harmless cubes.
So, if you smash a hole right through the laminated glass of the windshield (hard to do), you risk sharp edges - but not if you smash a side window (toughened glass).
I’m glad the baby is OK. I also suspect a lot of windows and windshields are going to get smashed for no reason because people are becoming hyper-vigilant about children left in cars.