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FDNY Firefighter Breaks Window to Rescue 4-Year-Old From Hot Car in Queens

What to Know

  • An FDNY firefighter on Thursday broke a car window to rescue a 5-year-old boy from a hot car in Queens
  • Matthew Clinton said he spotted the child crying and sweating in the car while he was walking to a parking lot
  • EMS personnel later arrived at the scene and took care of the child. He was in stable condition, according to the FDNY

An FDNY firefighter was in the right place at the right time Thursday when he rescued a 4-year-old boy from a sweltering car in Queens.

"The kid was screaming that it was hot. You could see sweat on his face," said firefighter Matthew Clinton. He told The Post that he was walking to a parking lot in College Point when he saw the crying child.

Clinton then told the boy that he's a firefighter and asked someone in the crowd for something he can use to break the car's window.

As the funeral was underway for twins who died after being left in a hot car in the Bronx for eight hours, legislators for the NYC Council pushed for technology in cars to prevent the same type of tragedy from happening again. NBC 4 New York’s George Spencer reports.

"I broke the driver's side window and unlocked the doors. We got the kid out, and within a couple minutes NYPD showed up," Clinton said. 

EMS personnel then arrived at the scene and took care of the child. He was in stable condition, according to the FDNY

The child's father, 42-year-old Geremie Ram of New Rochelle, eventually returned to the car not long after and police arrested him. Ram was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, reckless endangerment and acting in a manner dangerous to a child.

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Officials warned not to ever leave children in the car alone on a warm day. The temperatures in the interior of a vehicle can quickly rise significantly higher than the outside.

Just last month, a Bronx father forgot his 1-year-old twins in a hot car for eight hours, killing both of them. 

There's an average of 38 heat-related deaths of children locked in cars nationwide per year, according to kidsandcars.org, a website that tracks the deaths. It says as of July 16, there had been 21 this year.

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