New Jersey sheriff's officers who rescued child from hot van speak out

HACKENSACK (WABC) -- The heroes who rescued a child trapped in a hot vehicle in the parking lot of a Hackensack Costco spoke out Friday.

One police officer smashed the window to pull the child from the stifling minivan, while another cradled the little girl who was drenched in sweat.

"We just did our job," Bergen County Sheriff's Officer Sonya Bekier said.

She and Officer Richard Carrion remained humble, but there's no denying their actions helped save a toddler from a possible tragedy.

"Knowing the severity of the temperature outside the vehicle, you can only imagine what it was like inside," Carrion said.

Cell phone video shows customers in the parking lot hearing the cries of the little boy left inside the van and quickly alerting police officers nearby.

Bekier and Carrion rushed to the vehicle and smashed the window with a steel-tipped baton to rescue the boy from the dangerous heat during Thursday's sweltering weather.

"I knew that it was hot and the vehicle had to be hotter," Carrion said. "I knew that I had to get into that vehicle as soon as possible."

The boy was taken to an area hospital for observation.

"I went to the hospital with the child, and he was perfectly fine," Bekier said. "Happy, polite, the cutest little boy. So that was the best thing of the whole thing, is that it could have ended up really bad."

About a minute later, the mother, with a full cart and a second child in hand, arrived at her car, where several windows had been left partially open. She apologized, but that did little to calm the crowd, left stunned by how a mother could do this.

"When you see something out of the ordinary, you're going to react," Carrion said. "It's just in our nature."

The mother, who lives in Hackensack, was arrested and charged with child endangerment. The boy is now in the custody of his father.

"Just a great example of the what the community and law enforcement can do together," Carrion said. "And we need you guys just as much as you guys need us."

Both officers have been on the force for more than a decade, and they are both parents.

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