Work-Release Inmates Help Rescue Florida Baby Locked in SUV

The Associated Press
By The Associated Press
February 17, 2019Trending
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Work-Release Inmates Help Rescue Florida Baby Locked in SUV
A police car in a file photo. (Mira Oberman/AFP/Getty Images)

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla.—Some work-release inmates made a Valentine’s Day rescue when a Florida couple accidentally locked their baby inside their SUV.

Pasco County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kevin Doll told WFLA-TV the parents could not afford a locksmith, and the father intended to break a window.

That’s when a crew of trusties working nearby in their black-and-white striped uniforms offered to help.

They helped pry open the front door just enough for one inmate to use a coat hanger to push a button that unlocked the SUV.

The baby’s mother, Shadow Lantry, told WPEC-TV the infant was “just sitting there happy” throughout Thursday’s ordeal.

Sheriff Chris Nocco told WZVN-TV the trusties “want to do the right thing in life.”

‘Do the Right Thing’

It is unclear who suggested that the inmates provide assistance, but Pasco County Sheriff Chis Nocco described them as “low-risk offenders” who wanted “to do the right thing.”

“A lot of them, like these individuals, they know they made bad mistakes, bad choices, but they want to do the right thing in life,” Nocco said, according to ABC.

“This was a weird day man,” wrote Shadow Lantry in a caption to the video posted on Facebook, which shows a group of inmates in prison attire standing near the driver’s side of the vehicle.

Pasco Sheriff's Office lol this was a weird day man.

Gepostet von Shadow Lantry am Donnerstag, 14. Februar 2019

An unnamed individual can be seen in the footage bending what was said to be a wire coat hanger, while a voice identified in the report as belonging to one of the deputies can be heard telling the father to “pop his head in the window” once in a while, so the baby doesn’t get scared by all the strange faces.

As the inmates worked to pop the lock, the person recording the video walked closer to the window to see how the child was doing, and a female voice can be heard asking, “Is she ok in there?”

Footage shows the baby calmly sitting in the back seat, sucking on a soother.

The woman recording the incident then pans over to the sobbing child, asking “Was that stressful?” before adding “These good people helped us, and the prisoners.”

Newborn Baby Pulled From Storm Drain in South Africa

Rescue workers in South Africa pulled a newborn baby from a storm drain in a four-hour operation that ended with whoops and cheers from onlookers on Feb. 12.

Rescue Care Paramedics, one of the groups that helped to extricate the infant girl in Durban, says it is unclear why the baby was “dumped” and that police are investigating.

Doctor Timothy Hardcastle treats a baby
Doctor Timothy Hardcastle treats a baby in hospital after she was rescued from a storm water pipe in Durban, South Africa, on Feb. 11, 2019. (AP Photo)

The group says emergency responders went to the scene on Monday after residents heard a baby crying from deep inside the concrete storm drain. It says the area was dug up and a chisel and hammer were used to break into the drain.

Video shows a rescuer lifting the baby to a colleague standing above a pit as people celebrate the successful rescue. South African media say the infant is being treated in a hospital.

The Epoch Times reporter Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.

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