Security officers break into a car as temperatures exceeded 38 degrees

Security officers have smashed the window of a locked car to rescue a toddler on a sweltering Perth day.

9 News reports the three-year-old boy was pulled from the car at a Booragoon shopping centre car park on Tuesday afternoon, as temperatures in Perth exceeded 38 degrees.

Police say security officers broke the window after they were unable to find the car’s owner and comforted the child until St John Ambulance officers arrived.

The boy was examined and cleared by St John staff, while a 35-year-old man will be summonsed to appear in court on the probable charge of leaving a child unsupervised in a vehicle, police say.

The Victorian Government recently launched an advertising campaign focussing on the harmful effects of heat on children.

No Exceptions, No Excuses highlights the risks of leaving children in cars even for a few minutes.

The campaign’s safety messages remind families and care givers that:
•A child’s body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult’s because of their underdeveloped immune system.
•On a typical Australian summer day, the temperature inside a parked car can be 20 to 30 degrees hotter than the temperature outside.
•Leaving the car windows down slightly has little effect on the inside temperature.

The figures are not acceptable with over 5,000 kids left unattended in cars every year across Australia.

In a campaign with Matt Moran, Kidsafe highlighted how easy it is to cook your lamb dinner in a hot car. Imagine how the kids feel!

Parents or carers who leave their children unattended in a car can face fines up to $3700 and six months’ jail.

What does it take? Why do people continue to risk their child’s life?

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22 Comments

- - Some_Toss said
  - 01 Apr 2016
    11:20 am
Think about how grumpy you get when you’re left in the car on a hot day, while your partner/driver goes inside somewhere, or is talking to someone, while you’re waiting to go. You feel hot, sweaty, irritable, grumpy, angry, depressed… And you’re an adult! If just a few minutes of heat in a car can affect an adult in this way… How terrible must it be for a small child!?!? The smaller they are, the harder to regulate their own body temperature, and the more dangerous it is for them! Even cracking a window is not enough to get away with it. Keep your children safe!

- - kathryn said
  - 19 Mar 2016
    3:37 pm
Thank goodness security got him out!

- - mom103920 said
  - 18 Feb 2016
    10:54 am
Sadly, I don’t think this will be the last incident either. It takes no time for a car to heat up in our climate. Well done to the security guard for rescuing this precious little one.
- mom94125 replied
  
  28 Feb 2016 , 9:25 pm
  no, it certainly won’t be but people need to help keep an eye out on these things. just like this guy did.
- - mom160421 said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    11:11 pm
I agree with all the MoM’s comments so far. This should no longer be happening after all the campaigns and warnings.

- - mom87666 said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    10:50 pm
Why does this still happen I will never understand how you can leave your child in the car and go off and do what you have to do, this is your flesh and blood someone you say you love and yet you don’t care enough to take these little precious children with you. In all honesty if you do this the police should have the right to take your children off you nothing is more important then the lives of your children.NOTHING… Well done to the security officers.

- - mum4107 said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    10:39 pm
Well done to the secirty officers for saving that poor child. I don’t understand why people don’t get it. it’s a no Brainer as far as I’m concerned

- - june11 said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    9:09 pm
In an emergency like that they should have to try to find the parent/carer first. They should be allowed to break into the car immediately. Some people shoud be allowed access to children. I think we should go back to the days when you had to use the key to lock / unlock the doors.

- - coastalkaryn said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    8:50 pm
Why oh why do stupid people breed???

- - rachelvk said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    8:32 pm
When will people get the message. This is just lazy stupid behaviour and I hope the parent is punished for their actions.

- - robyn_smithwick said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    8:29 pm
Why don’t people listen to the warnings of all this subject?

- - BellaB said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    7:00 pm
I cannot believe this stupidity – or it’s frequency.

- - curlytops said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    4:44 pm
im not being funny but why didn’t they smash the front window as it must have been terrifying to have all that glass smashed into your face. poor child.. at least they are ok.
- mom90758 replied
  
  18 Feb 2016 , 12:48 pm
  Great question indeed!
- - mom112217 said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    4:43 pm
You just don’t do this,thank god the security guard was present.

- - mom90758 said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    3:59 pm
Here the video of when the security guard smashed the car’s window. https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/30844148/child-rescued-from-locked-car/

- - mom118019 said
  - 17 Feb 2016
    3:39 pm
I work for 000 Ambulance and you would be suprised how many calls we get a day for children locked in cars. In Australian weather it can become fatal in as little as 8 minutes. It is quite common when parents are putting groceries in the boot of the car that they will put their child in their seat and give them the keys to play with. DO NOT DO THIS! As the kids accidentally push the button and lock themselves in, leaving the parents outside the car. Please remember to take your kids with you as well.