Retired officer uses sledgehammer to rescue baby from hot car
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A quick-thinking retired officer in New Jersey jumped into action after seeing a baby girl crying and sweating profusely inside a locked car, as he said the temperature inside the vehicle soared above 120 degrees.
Steve Eckel, 53, used a sledgehammer to smash through the car's front passenger window at a parking lot in Howell on Monday, police said. They told reporters a second good Samaritan, 30-year-old Sarah Mazzone, carried the 4-month-old girl into an air-conditioned store.
“I do believe in guardian angels, and I think that I’m the one for this child,” Eckel told WCBS. “Her hands were out in the car. She was screaming so loud you could see her eyes rolling back.”
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Temperatures outside were in the upper 80s.
Investigators determined the mother, 33-year-old Karen Gruen of Lakewood, had left her baby in the car for about 40 minutes. They talked to her after she approached her car in a panic, asking where her baby was, Eckel said.
Police charged her with child endangerment. It's not known if she has a lawyer.
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The baby appeared fine after she cooled down, police added.
Eckel, a retired Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office sergeant, told WCBS his instincts as a dad kicked in when he freed the girl from the car. “I almost started to cry; I felt really emotional at that point.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.