What would you do if you came upon a child, or a dog, locked inside a hot car?
Let's start here: Don't just walk away.
The temperature inside a car can rise 20 degrees Fahrenheit within 10 minutes and continue to climb quickly. Leaving the window open a crack does not significantly slow the process. Since 1990, more than 1,100 U.S. children have lost their lives in hot cars, and just since May 2025, 15 children have died this way.
That does not include 1-year-old Amillio Gutierrez, who died June 29 after his mother, 20-year-old Maya Hernandez, left him and an older sibling in her car while she was getting a lip filler treatment at a Bakersfield spa. She has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and child cruelty.
We asked Bakersfield shoppers on a 104-degree day this week what they would do if they encountered a child – or a pet – locked in a hot car. Some had already experienced it.
Betty Eaves once came upon a wild scene, where a mother exited a store to find paramedics extracting her child from a locked car.
'The parent had come up and was just hysterical,' Eaves said. 'Oh, that's my child, that's my child. I don't know what happened to her but the baby was ok.'
Nic Brown had a similar experience with a dog outside a pet store.
'Somebody had a little Chihuahua in their car and we tracked the person down and they ended up getting the dog out,' he said. 'We shouldn't be doing that.'
So – what should you do?
'Contact the store management,' said Maria Vasquez. 'See if there's anybody in the store that owns that vehicle. If not, contact the authorities.'
'Definitely call law enforcement right away,' said Rikki Minus, who was bringing her 5-year-old into a grocery store. 'Don't leave the child. But if you can try to get in the car, break the window as soon as possible. Because it's very sad. Too many kids are dying like that.'
Not everyone is comfortable smashing a window, however.
'Call 9-1-1, stay with the people, stay with the person near the car,' said Christina Barela, who was shopping with her almost-11-year-old daughter. 'I don't know if I would go as far as to break the window. I think I would wait until somebody had the tools to do that.'
And that's OK, said firefighter Sean Rogers, a paramedic with the Bakersfield Fire Department.
'We always advise people to act within their own level of comfort,' he said. 'You could start small and try to (gauge the situation). Are you at a restaurant or a public area? Can you notify anybody? Does this vehicle belong to anybody?
'Do what you have to do in that sense, and then escalate from there. If you're unable to find the owner of the vehicle, the parents, whoever, then you would take the next step. If you feel that someone is truly in danger…if you do not initiate a rescue now, that would be the time to act and act responsibly.'
Isn't that risky, breaking someone's window? Not necessarily. Not if you do it right, and confine the damage to the absolute minimum required to achieve the rescue.
'As long as you call 9-1-1 and act responsibly, there are Good Samaritan laws in place to protect you,' Rogers said.
This kind of tragedy can happen even to responsible parents who just happen to space out.
Some 52% are deemed to have simply made a heartbreaking oversight.
What can parents do to remind themselves they have a baby on board? Throw your purse or brief case in the back seat with your child, so you're compelled to look back there before you exit the vehicle. Put a stuffed animal on the front seat as a reminder that you've got a passenger.
As for passers-by who encounter locked-in kids in parking lots – when in doubt, act.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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