Murfreesboro firefighters save 5-week-old baby locked inside hot SUV

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WSMV) - First responders are sharing their stories after saving a 5-week-old baby locked inside a hot SUV earlier this month.

“Your stomach drops because you don’t know how the outcome is going to be,” Murfreesboro Fire Rescue firefighter Tyson Donaldson said.

The original call was for a welfare check at 5:16 p.m. on Monday, June 13 after a customer saw a woman acting strangely in the Kroger parking lot on Old Fort Parkway.

When officers arrived, they found 27-year-old Alexandria Lee standing outside a locked SUV swaying to keep her balance.

“I got out of the truck and I walked over to the police officers, and they let us know that there might be a baby in the back seat of the car,” Donaldson said.

The car windows were tinted and the weather was extremely hot, so they wasted no time and smashed the windows to get in.

“You could feel the heat coming out of the car,” engineer Marc Cartwright said. “When we broke the window and got the back door open, we immediately got the baby out of the car seat. It was very hot to the touch, sweaty, almost lifeless.”

As the men worked to cool the baby, an off-duty nurse came over to help.

“He had on a little onesie. We took that off and actually dipped the onesie in ice water,” fire captain Tim Lampitt said.

Police found a half-empty bottle of tequila in the car and Lee was arrested. As for the baby, the firefighters quick actions saved his life.

“It’s the reason we do the job. We might have 10 bad outcomes, but the one makes it worth it.,” Donaldson said.

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