Video captures father smashing windshield to rescue baby from hot car

Heart-stopping video captured the moment a father smashed the windshield of a car and rescued an infant who was trapped inside.

The dramatic scene unfolded in the southern Texas city of Harlingen, where temperatures reached 100-degree heat last week.

Harlingen Police Department Sargeant Larry Moore told the San Antonio Express-News that the child’s parents had parked their car at an HEB store on Commerce Street around 10.30am on 19 July.

They then accidentally locked the baby in the car and also forgot the keys inside.

Video recorded by bystanders and posted on TikTok shows the desperate father frantically smashing the vehicle’s front windshield with what appeared to be a large stick.

He then removed the broken glass with his own hands before a woman climbed inside the car through the glass and passed the baby to the father.

Sgt Moore said police were called to the scene after the baby was rescued. No charges are expected.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an infant’s body temperature can increase by 20 degrees while inside a car in just 10 minutes.

The agency estimates that an average of 40 children die each year of heatstrokes caused because they have been left or became trapped in a car.

Children are three to five times more vulnerable to having their body temperature increase while inside a car.

The administration says rolling windows down or parking in the shade does little to change the temperature inside a vehicle.