A POLICE officer tried vainly to smash a car window with his baton in a bid to free an 18-month-old toddler accidentally locked inside.
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Sergeant Paul Stanhope said when police were called to the incident in Hamilton about 10.30am Saturday the child had already been locked in the hot small car for more than 10 minutes.
“The child had been in the car 12 minutes when we got the call. I raced down there and found a small car in the heat and an 18-month-old in the back seat,” he said.
“The RACV was on a way but it was all taking too long. I tried to break in with a baton, gave the window four or five hits without a result.
“The next option was a hammer. I certainly didn’t want to have to use my gun.”
Sergeant Stanhope said the timely arrival of the RACV saved the day.
“They popped a rubber wedge in and pumped it up and then used a long tube to go in and flick a door open,” he said.
“The end result was that the child was safe.
“But people need to be aware that after a long wet winter it’s warming up.
“The sun had some bite Saturday morning and there will be a lot more hot days ahead.
“Busy, distracted people need to take a second to make sure children and pets are looked after,” he said.
State Emergency Service volunteers and ambulance officers also attended the incident.
Two vehicles in Portland were broken into during the weekend.
A van was burgled in a Bellara Court driveway overnight Saturday and a wallet and ash tray full of coins stolen. The passenger-side window of a vehicle in Kauri Crescent was smashed overnight Sunday. Nothing was stolen.