Deputy Who Saved 1-Year-Old from Hot Car Says He Had to Act Quickly

• Flagler County Sheriff’s Deputy Christian Harrison tells PEOPLE he was dealing with a “life or demise scenario” when he rescued a 1-year-old woman from a scorching automobile on May 20
• “I’m like, ‘Okay, so it’s obviously too hot. It’s been 10 minutes, we have to act now,’ ” he says
• The dad and mom haven’t been charged, however the Florida Department of Children and Families was notified

The Florida deputy who saved a 1-year-old woman trapped inside a scorching automobile this week is opening as much as PEOPLE in regards to the heart-stopping rescue, which was captured on digital camera.

Flagler County Sheriff’s Deputy Christian Harrison says he was heading to help on one other name on Monday, May 20, when he was alerted {that a} baby had been locked in a scorching automobile at a Palm Coast Walmart.

“[The parents] accidentally locked the child in the vehicle that wasn’t running,” he says. “So at that point, I check all the door handles just to confirm that all the doors are locked and the vehicle is confirmed to not be running.”

Harrison shares that it was additionally the primary scorching automobile incident the place he confronted a “official life or demise scenario” and he needed to act shortly — particularly because the hearth division was a minimum of 5 minutes away from the scene, so there was no ready for them.

As seen in his physique digital camera footage, after observing the kid to be “sweating” and seemingly in bodily misery, the deputy determined to take motion.

Although the girl protested “no no no” after being instructed he was going to smash the window — even asking at one level if he had a device to open the automobile with out damaging it — Harrison tells PEOPLE that he had no selection.

“I’m like, ‘Okay, so it’s obviously too hot. It’s been 10 minutes, we have to act now,’ ” he says. “I do not suppose she understood how scorching a automobile can get in that quantity of time. Even if it would not really feel that scorching exterior.”

He says he went to his patrol automobile and used a device to interrupt the window. He then cleared the remaining glass together with his baton and unlocked the automobile, because the video confirmed.

After being rescued, the woman was assessed by the Palm Coast Fire Department and was “decided to be okay, regardless of the publicity to excessive warmth,” per an FCSO launch beforehand obtained by PEOPLE.

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No costs have been filed right now, however the Florida Department of Children and Families was notified, Harrison says.

Speaking with PEOPLE, Sheriff Rick Staly praised Deputy Harrison, saying “he knew precisely what he wanted to do.”

“Florida is a very hot state,” he provides. “It was about 80-some-odd degrees that day. And 10 minutes in a car can easily raise the inside temperature of the car to 100 degrees. Another 10 minutes, about 110.”

The sheriff, who has been in regulation enforcement for practically 50 years, shares that Flagler County hasn’t had any youngsters die from a scorching automobile. 

According to NoHeatStroke.org, on common, 37 youngsters below the age of 14 die annually in scorching vehicles, and 100% of these deaths are avoidable. The group has recorded 969 pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths since 1998.

“You got to rescue a child quickly because they can get dehydrated and then go into heat exhaustion and then potentially die,” Staly says. “You don’t have time to wait. You got to act right away.”