Newly released police cam footage shows a Florida deputy saving a little girl who was left in a hot car at 11:20 a.m. on June 17.
Someone called the police to the Vista Haven Apartments after a little girl was found inside a possibly stolen vehicle with its windows rolled up, WESH 2 News reported.
Seminole County Deputy Bill Dunn told WESH that when he arrived he saw the little girl’s eyelashes fluttering.
Dunn saved the 3-year-old girl from the boiling car after she had been left there for more than 12 hours, Fox13 reported.
The temperature inside the car was significantly hotter than the temperature outside.
“It was probably 80 degrees (26 Celsius) outside, to where you have 109, 110 degrees (43 Celsius) steam just rushing out at you … when I opened that car door,” recalled Dunn in an interview.
The footage shows the deputy running to his car while holding her weakened body in one hand and keeping her head up with the other.
It was Father’s day and as a father himself, the situation intensified for Dunn when he couldn’t feel a pulse.
Upon bringing her to his car he turned on the air conditioning. “Once the cold air hit her, that’s when I started noticing her eyes kind of fluttering,” said Dunn.
As there were no ambulances nearby, he turned the sirens on and rushed the little girl to hospital while trying to keep her conscious.
“It’s OK, baby. Talk to me! You’re OK,” said Dunn in the footage.
Her rapid heart beat was an important sign to him that there was hope for her recovery.
“I remember one thing distinctively,” said Dunn, “was my hand on her chest and feeling her heart racing.”
By the time Dunn made it to the trauma room, the medical team was ready and waiting to receive her. We can see the deputy’s return to his vehicle from the body cam footage—He slumps over the bonnet from fatigue.
He said that “it was a heck of a thing to experience that adrenaline dump. And then when it finally goes away, how it really does affect the body.”
Casey Dyan Keller, the 33-year-old mother, had taken three of her children to the liquor store and only taken two of her children back to her apartment at 11:15 p.m, said the investigators, WESH 2 News reported.
By the next morning, she called 911 claiming that someone had stolen her car with her child inside it.
Keller was arrested and charged with child neglect and bodily harm, Fox13 reported.
On June 21, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office posted a Facebook photo of Dunn reuniting with the 3-year-old who made a full recovery after the near-fatal incident.
People responded to the post with positive and thankful comments.
“You are truly a hero and we as Roane County citizens are so very blessed to have you here to watch over us, and to serve and protect us! Thank you for you service to our community and God Bless you and the precious little girl you saved.” said one of the responders to the post.
Heatstroke Death with Children in Vehicles
Since 1998, 778 children have died from heatstroke in a vehicle as of Aug. 2018, and all of these deaths could have been prevented, stated No Heat Stroke.org.
According to a study released by The American Academy of Pediatrics:
“Even at relatively cool ambient temperatures, the temperature rise in vehicles is significant on clear, sunny days and puts infants at risk for hyperthermia.”
It was also found that cracking the windows open 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) makes no difference to the rate of temperature increase.
Eighty percent of the temperature rise occurs within the first 30 minutes.
According to No Heat Stroke.org’s statistics, an average of 37 children die from heatstroke in vehicles each year.
From The Epoch Times