I’d call 911 for sure. I’d call out for assistance or just in case the mother was in the immediate area. If no one came to claim the baby, I’d break the window. Then when the mother arrived, I’d beat the shit out of them.
Well, probably not the latter, but I’d be tempted.
Weedy is in Australia and is unaware of the dangers of an infant in a locked car? That beggars belief.
I remember a baby died a few years ago when it was left in a hot car for several hours. And I know it is recommended not to leave children or animals in the car. But that a baby can die within 10 minutes? That the sight of a baby asleep in a car is in itself an emergency that justifies calling the police? No, I didn’t know that.
I wasn’t being critical of Weedy, just surprised that the message was not as widespread as I thought.
Wasn’t it in Sydney about 5 years ago a woman left a toddler in a car with the motor running while she went into a shop? The car was stolen and abandoned and the child died of heatstroke.
Yeah, that’s the case I remember. Poor woman.
Poor woman?? I feel a helluva lot more sorry for the child.
I was going to say much the same as Jabiru. The woman did a few things wrong and the child died. Not that anyone deserves an infant death.
The child died horribly, it’s true. I thought that as I was writing it. But it’s dead now, and the mother is probably still dealing with what happened. I feel sorry for her, because what was she supposed to do? Wake up her sleeping baby for a 2 minute stop? Leave it in the car without the engine running? She had the engine running to keep the AC on, because it was a hot day. If she had taken the keys out of the car, it probably wouldn’t have been stolen, and the baby would probably have been fine. She was trying to do the right thing, and it backfired horribly, and her baby died.
But yes, it was awful for the child.
With today’s cars, yes, you are supposed to schlep the kid out for even a 2 minute stop. It sucks, and I admit I was mightily relieved when my eldest got old enough to sit in the car (with the window down) while I ran in to return a movie.
Today’s cars are apparently nice and aerodynamic with tight seals around the windows and chassis, unlike the cars my parents had when I was growing up. With those, you *did *have maybe 10 or even 20 minutes before it turned into an oven. With today’s cars, apparently (I say this based on news reports, not studies I’ve read) the heat reaches dangerous levels much sooner.
Yes. Either that or not go to the store right then. Whatever she needed at the store was not as important as her kid. I speak as a mother who never, ever left her child alone in a car no matter the inconvenience.
I have definitely been tempted on many occasions–going to return a DVD, racing into the store to buy one thing when my daughter’s sound asleep on a rainy day, picking up a book on hold at the library when the front desk is less than 30 feet from my parking space and my daughter’s being fussy–but the way I figure it, I’m much better off erring on the side of not leaving her alone in the car.
Call 911, tell them that the parent is not in sight and you’re breaking a window.
I’m a first responder and preparedness-type anyway, so I carry something to break windows with.
I also carry entry tools, but I’m a terrible car thief so if I weren’t in the car in 60 seconds, I’d take out a window.
No matter what you do, someone’s gonna be mad. Might as well make sure the baby is safe so it’s worth it!
Mrs. and I were leaving a store a while back, and a woman began freaking out by her minivan. She had just parked, but locked her keys in the van with her baby inside. She was drawing a crowd with her histrionics, but I just walked by her to my truck, got a slim-jim and came back and opened the passenger door. The half-dozen or so people gathered broke into applause and kudos, but the mother stood there looking at me and said “I don’t know if I like someone just walking around with that and being able to break in cars anytime they want.”
Really?
My wife said from behind me “Lock the fucking door and close it. Let her pay a locksmith or have the police break a window.”
There were some agreeing statements from the crowd, but I just walked away. One woman did give the mother some shit for being an ungrateful bitch, but we just left.
You can’t please everyone.
Turning the engine off and rolling the windows down would probably have been her best option, short of taking the kid inside with her.
Every news story I have ever personally read involving a car that was stolen with a child inside was a car that was left with the keys in the ignition. I think that leaving a kid alone in the car with the keys in the ignition is some orders of magnitude more risky than just leaving a kid alone in a parked car for a few minutes. Although if it’s the least bit warm, I probably still wouldn’t do it.
I wouldn’t be worried about the police, I’d be worried about a random person deciding to prevent me from breaking the window and having a poor communication kills incident.
You need to understand that I am short and not very strong - it would probably be faster for me to run in to a store than to try to break a car window.
I’m also surprised at the number of people who weren’t aware of the problem - we have this happen here once a year or so, and checking Google news there have already been five children die this year in this kind of incident, just in the U.S. Granted, it looks like most of the kids had been in the car for more than just a few minutes, but it’s just starting to get hot in the south.
We had a school administrator in Cincinnati leave her baby in a hot car all day. It was heartbreaking to watch her interviews. 
It seems to happen when busy people have a routine and, for some reason, break it. For instance, say your husband usually takes your child to daycare, but he has an early meeting, so the wife decides to take her. However, once she gets in her car, she follows her normal routine and completely zones out on the fact that she has her child in the car. Having rear-facing car seats only exacerbates the situation.
The other day, my tennis partner called me and said she’d be late to tennis because she had gotten off the exit and her dog barked at another dog. She’d completely forgotten that she put the dog in the car to drop off at the groomer’s. Had the dog not barked, she might have forgotten her altogether.
Only sensible thing. Break the window open, call 911 and request police, ambulance and child welfare. There is no other option possible. When the cops get there, make a statement, give contact info and prepare to get subpoenaed to appear in court.
I would probably have to call and reschedule an appointment, I normally run any errands when I have medical appointments to save car fuel.
I’d go to the store or call 911, but I’m not breaking anyone’s windows. I wouldn’t be if someone did that (and saved a child) and got sued for the difference.
You wouldn’t be what? You may need the edit window. 
Good for you!
I’d probably do something similar. I’d get on the phone with the cops and if they instructed me to break the window, I would.
Too late to edit. I wouldn’t be surprised.