Good Samaritan recalls saving baby from hot car
MCKINNEY, Texas - A quick-thinking McKinney mom described how she broke into a hot car using a trailer hitch to save an infant boy strapped into his car seat.
READ MORE: Mom arrested for leaving baby in car during eye exam
Rochell Steakley is a mom herself and was about to leave with her 4-year-old son when movement in the car next to hers caught her eye.
Steakley says her motherly instinct compelled her to act when she saw a newborn clearly in distress in a car parked next to her truck in a Target parking lot Wednesday afternoon.
The Good Samaritan called 911 and says the operator told her to wait for police, but Steakley says that was not an option.
“That baby's life was at stake,” she explained. “Minutes mattered.”
Steakley remembered a spare trailer hitch in the back of her truck.
“I tried to hit the window with this with one hand but that didn't work. So I just took it like a bat and hit it in the center, it shattered, and I was able to get in the car,” she explained. “He was very hot, very limp, but he was breathing.”
Police say the temperature inside the car about 10 minutes after the newborn was taken out was 130 degrees.
They arrested the mother, 27-year-old Kimberly Rosario, who told them she'd forgotten the child when she went inside for an eye exam. She's charged with abandoning/ endangering a child.
Kam Golgoun happened to be at Target watching the rescue unfold and says it brought him and his wife to tears.
“I actually have a young child myself, 2 weeks old,” Golgoun said. “So we sympathize, and I can't see how someone can actually forget their child in a car.”
“I did see mom. In my heart of all hearts, I know that this was not intentional,” said Steakley. “This was a very big mistake that she will have to live with for the rest of her life.”
Rosario was not able to be reached for comment.
Steakley says it was really a community effort rescuing the child because so many others also jumped into help.
After the ordeal, Steakley said her 4-year-old son was wondering if she stole something from Target. She got to explain to him that mommy just helped save a life.
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