A mother who accidentally locked her 10-month-old daughter in her car on a hot day has shared body camera video of the frantic moments before police rescued her.
Christina Tufford told NBC affiliate WPTV that she was at a Lowe's in Stuart, Florida, with her daughter Maddie earlier this month when she used the remote start on her key fob to get the air conditioning running while she put Maddie in her car seat.
She put her keys on the seat while she was unloading her items and then closed the doors, but realized too late that the doors had automatically locked with the keys inside.
She said she called OnStar to see if should could get the car unlocked despite having an expired account.
"I’ll do whatever it takes,'' she said she told the service. "I'll pay whatever amount of money it takes. Just please reactivate my service so you guys can unlock my car."
OnStar told WPTV that the only way they could reactivate the account was if someone was in the car to push the OnStar button.
The car then automatically shut off as a frantic Tufford called the police for help.
"More panic was setting in because time was running out," Tufford said.
Officer Kyle Osinga tried to get inside for several minutes with the help of a tow truck driver, but was unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Maddie's condition worsened as the car grew hotter.
"I check on the kid a little bit later and the kid is not okay anymore,'' Osinga told WPTV. "The head’s down and the eyes are closed. That’s when the adrenaline, that’s when I start to freak out."
Osinga tried to break a window with his baton before a fellow customer ran up and handed him a window punch.
His body camera video shows him breaking the window and unlocking the doors as Tufford pulls her daughter to safety.
"Very lethargic,'' Tufford said. "She wasn't breathing good."
Tufford happened to have water bottles in the car and immediately poured them on Maddie to cool her off.
She is hoping other parents can learn from the incident, particularly that all the doors can lock automatically with a remote start. Tufford also now carries a window punch in her purse in case of an emergency.
Her tense ordeal comes after the dangers of children in hot cars were spotlighted by the death 1-year-old twins whose father left them in the car for eight hours while he went to work in New York City last month.
Experts recommend these seven tips for preventing hot car deaths, including keeping something you need, like your phone or briefcase, in the back seat along with your child.