Tulsa Police: 12-Year-Old Saves Toddler In Hot Car

Tulsa Police said a 12-year-old boy is a hero after breaking a car window to rescue a toddler.

Ben Theriot said he didn't really think, he just acted. He used a ratchet strap to break the windshield and rescue the toddler from the hot car.

"It wouldn't bust. It would just bounce off, so I hit the front windshield and it cracked,” said Theriot.

Theriot said all he cared about was saving the toddler.

"I started hitting it a lot more, then it busted open and we got some help from other people,” said Theriot.

Theriot and his mom Nicole said they parked their car to go shopping and heard a baby crying. That's when they saw a toddler sitting in a hot car that was turned off, with the windows up.

"It was so hot. I was on the phone with the ambulance, with 911 and I was like ‘we've got to get this baby out’,” said Theriot’s mother, Nicole Fields.

Theriot said all he could find in his car was a ratchet strap, so he used that to break the windshield, then unlock the back door.

"I was scared because I don't want to be in trouble, but I can't leave this baby in the car either. He just jumped right into action and didn't even hesitate,” said Fields.

First responders arrived not long after and got the baby out of the car.

Police wrote the toddler's mom a ticket under the Forget Me Not Safety Ordinance, which is a city misdemeanor.

Police said she wasn't arrested because the baby wasn't hurt.

"Within minutes, that child could have passed out and became ill form a heat injury. Time was of the essence in that situation,” said Officer Jeanne Pierce with Tulsa Police.

Officer Pierce said they don't want to encourage people to break windows, but Theriot did what he had to do.

"We'd rather have a broken windshield than a child death. Any individual wouldn't be in trouble with us in that situation because they saved the life of that child,” said Pierce.

Police said it is never okay to leave a child in a hot car. They said you can get arrested if the child is injured.