A Man Saved a 4-Month-Old Baby Locked in a Car Using His Tactical Pen

Here is the interview transcribed for those who prefer reading.

Jeff:

Awesome. I'm super excited to have Brian with us today. He has an amazing story, and he reached out to us. I'm Jeff, from The Atomic Bear, and this is Brian Lamb. He reached us with an amazing story, using one of our products, and that story needed to be shared with other people, because it's something that might affect you, this summer, especially. Brian, can you tell me, tell us, actually, who you are, and where you live and all that?

Brian:

My name is Brian Lamb, I live in Phoenix, Arizona, and I work at Home Depot. I've got kids and dogs of my own, so I know about leaving kids and dogs in hot cars out here. It's not a good idea.

Jeff:

Yeah, I don't think it is. Actually, this leads us to your story. Can you just explain to us what happened, when it happened, and all that? Just start from the beginning. What were you doing?

Brian:

Okay. Not this last Saturday, but the Saturday before, I was in the back, trying to find an order for a customer, to see what was wrong with it, and whatnot. My manager gets a phone call from another manager, and he's like, "No, I don't know how to do it. Call Phil over in tool rental, and see if he knows." That manager hangs up the phone, and I'm like, "What was that about?" I'm always curious about what's going on in my store. He was like, "There's a kid locked in the car out in the parking lot." I'm like, "Seriously? How did someone lock their kid in the car? He's like, "I don't know." I'm like, "Where are they?" He's like, "I have no idea, just out in the parking lot."

Okay. I go running out to the parking lot, and I go run up and down the parking lot twice. I couldn't see him, so I called the other manager, going, "Hey, where are you at?" He's like, "Over my garden." Of course, the one side of the parking lot I didn't check. By the time I got the phone call to when I call him, it's already been about four minutes. It's 11:00 in the morning, our time. I go over there, and there are four people standing around the car, just scratching their heads, but not knowing what to do. One of the guys from tool rental is walking up with a stiff piece of wire and some pliers, to try and jimmy the lock open.

I asked the mom, because, of course, she was there. She's not hysterical, which was great. I'm like, "We can either wait for him to try and jimmy to lock it open, or I can break it out now, and we deal with it." She's like, "I don't care, just please get to my child." I'm like, "Okay, you will not have a window though. It's going to be gone." She's like, "That's fine." I pull my pen out of my apron, and just grab it, and right through the window, just like butter. Yes, I got a couple of little scratches on my hand, but to me, it was well worth it.

Jeff:

Where were the kids? The kid was in the backseat, I guess.

Brian:

Yeah, the child was in the backseat. The child was about four months old. Mom had one of those new vehicles, where, if you take the keys out, when you shut all the doors, all the doors lock. She took the keys out, and put it with one of those... she had one of those phone/wallet cases. She grabbed all that, and put it in the back seat, next to the child, so she could just grab everything at once. She just forgot that when she shuts all the doors, they automatically lock. Now, the keys and her phone to maybe call OnStar to unlock it, are in the car. There was no way to get to it.

Jeff:

Wow. I'm just trying to picture, the mom is not hysterical. Was the Dad around, or was she alone with the child?

Brian:

It was just her and the child. Dad, I don't know if he was at home, or at work, or whatever. It doesn't matter. Mom came running into the garden, going, "Please, someone help me. My car is locked, the kid's in there. I need help."

Jeff:

There were already people trying to get one of the doors open?

Brian:

No. When I got there, there was nobody there trying to do anything, because nobody there had any way to break into the car. It was just another manager, a garden associate, Mom, and maybe a lot of attendants. None of them had anyway on them to be able to get into the vehicle.

Jeff:

Wow. I think a child doesn't have long to live in a very hot car. When it gets to 50 degrees, I think it's 10 minutes, and the child may be in very serious difficulties.

Brian:

Yeah. The child may have been in the car for maybe 10 to 15 minutes. I don't know how long it took for the manager that was out there to actually call the other one.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Brian:

I do know, when Mom got into the car, and finally got the child out, it was just covered in sweat.

Jeff:

Wow.

Brian:

It was getting close.

Jeff:

These vehicles are actually a danger for most people because it happens to everybody. You can forget your keys in a car, and if the kids are in there, or the dog, whoever is in there, and is locked in, it can be a tragedy. I think that's a very bad idea. Probably, some of these cars have a way to undo this, or block this system to work this way. I don't know about that.

Brian:

Yeah, some cars do have that little keypad outside, but this one didn't.

Jeff:

Okay.

Brian:

This car should not have that option, to just lock all the doors.

Jeff:

Yeah, it sounds like a bad idea. Just tell me about one thing. We get a lot of questions, and I get to answer a lot of these questions. How did you hit the window of the car? Where did you position yourself in a specific way? Which window did you pick? How did you strategically get in?

Brian:

I picked the window that was the farthest from the child, which was the driver's side back seat because it was a rear-facing child seat. It was facing towards the back seat, and it had a little hood up. I knew that I could break that one, while still, maybe later on, keeping Mom comfortable, and keeping her window up. I've seen videos where, if there's a rollover, bodies tend to fly toward the open window.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Brian:

Keep that one intact, but I don't want to break out the two windows right next to the child. I go for the rear passenger, and I just... let me grab the pen and I'll show you.

Jeff:

Oh yeah, please.

Brian:

I always keep it on me now. I just took it right like this, and just straight through the window.

Jeff:

You went through in one strike? Did you have to do it a few times?

Brian:

Nope, just one strike, and I felt it hit. It was just so quick that I couldn't stop, and just got two little cuts on my arm, from the side of the rear window. To me, it was well worth it.

Jeff:

Wow. You're wearing glasses, but did you try to look away from the window?

Brian:

Yes, I did look away, of course. In hindsight, I should have taken off my apron, or something like that, and wrapped it on my arm. But, in that case, I was just thinking at the moment, going, "Get this child out before it's way too late."

Jeff:

Yeah, totally.

Brian:

I just put it through.

Jeff:

Wow, that's amazing. I have a question for you, regarding, how did you get into getting this pen? Why did you buy the pen at the first place? Was it for a situation like that or some other reason? Why did you look into it?

Brian:

It was a little of both. I just started breaking a lot of pens at work.

Jeff:

Okay.

Brian:

Because they're all made out of plastic. I'm like, "I need something that's durable, and I can replace the fillers, and just keep it." I went searching on Amazon, and, "Hey, look at that. This one even has a glass breaker."

Jeff:

Yeah.

Brian:

It's not too big, comes with a lifetime warranty, comes with a glass breaker. And, it's a self-defense pen, which, thank God, I've never had to use.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Brian:

But, it has so many uses, why wouldn't I buy it?

Jeff:

Yeah, that's great. One of the things, I think, we tried to put a lot of attention to is the tip. The material on the tip is actually made especially to break windows. It has to be harder than windows, and have a certain shape to get through. I'm glad that it worked when you used it, and that it helped the child to go through this. What happened after you got the child? I imagine all sorts of emotions got into play. You're probably bleeding, or you scratched your hand somehow, and the mom is probably so happy to get back to the child. What happened after, when you got to finish the work?

Brian:

Okay. I broke the window out. I reached my arm in to just pop the door open, being careful not to cut myself on the glass. I get the door open, she climbs in and starts unbuckling the child. Then, she stops, and it was like, "I'm just going to turn on the AC." I'm like, "No, just get her out and get her out in the breeze. We can hear the fire department, the police coming. Look, there's the police car 10 feet away. Just get her out, get her in the breeze, get her ready for rescue to get here, and treat her properly. Just get her out into the breeze, prepared to pretty much hand her off to someone else that can do the proper care, at that point."

Jeff:

Yeah.

Brian:

After I broke it, I tell her, "Just get the baby out." We're standing there, I'm watching the police officer pull up, and my hands are at my side. All of a sudden, I feel this part of my hand starts getting cold. I'm like, "That's not good." I hold my hand up, and oh, there it goes, just some blood. I'm like, "I've got to go take care of myself. I'll be back." I just went and made sure there was nothing major, and just went about my day.

Jeff:

Yeah, it's such a day. I think you are a hero doing that. You were there at the right time, you took the right decisions, and you might have saved the life of that baby. The police could have come, but it's later. You don't know when they'd come, you don't know what's happening out there. It's something we can see this summer, especially in the summer, can see animals, can see babies, young kids, people with difficulties, elderly, and it's hard for me to understand how these things happen. You just told us, just the way cars are made can make it happen.

I think we should be very careful this summer, and be ready to help people, whether having a tactical pen, like the one we're selling or having another device that can break open a window, is totally wise. Have it in your car, so if you get stuck in your car because you're in a car accident or something, you can get out by the window. If you see other people having trouble, you just get into your car, get the pen or the device, and just break open the window. I think that's amazing that it happened to you, and you did the right thing. I'm glad you didn't cut yourself too much.

Brian:

To me, it was a small price to pay for possibly saving a life.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Brian:

It's okay with me. I did not mind at all.

Jeff:

Brian, thank you so much for your time and thank you for sharing this story. I think this might help people to be more careful this summer, and hopefully, you will have no other issues like that in your life. Certainly not.

Brian:

I hope not, but now I'm well prepared for it.

Jeff:

That's good. Thank you so much, and let's keep in touch.

Brian:

I definitely will.

Jeff:

Awesome. I'm going to stop. Bye everyone.

Brian:

Bye guys. Be safe out there.

Breaking News Press Release

A Phoenix Arizona man leaped to the rescue when managers at a Home Depot were at a loss to help a woman with her car locked in the store’s parking lot with a baby inside. After hearing from a colleague that someone had locked their car with the keys inside, Brian Lamb rushed outside to find four people around the locked vehicle scratching their heads, not knowing what to do. A store employee tried to pick the lock by using a stiff piece of wiring, however, this strategy seemed too time-consuming. Lamb proposed a faster solution, using the tactical pen he recently

purchased from The Atomic Bear’s website. "You will not have a window – it’s going to be gone!" said the quick thinker. The mom answered, “I don’t care, just please get to my child.”

After pulling his tactical pen from his apron, Lamb simply hit the car’s rear driver’s side window. “It was just like butter,” said Lamb. “I got a few scratches on my hand, but it was worth it.”

Mom had a new vehicle where, if the keys are taken out, and the doors are shut, all the doors are systematically locked. The mom inadvertently put the keys and other items, including her phone, in the back seat with the 4-month-old child. When she closed all the doors, the vehicle secured itself mechanically. Since the woman’s phone and keys were in the car, it was impossible to call OnStar to unlock the vehicle.

A few moments after opening the car, the child was rescued from the car and was sweating profusely. According to Jan Null from the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San Jose State University, on average, 37 children die from vehicular heatstroke every year in the USA alone, with most deaths happening from May through September. When the temperature is 90 F outside, it can take less than 1 hour to increase the temperature in the car to over 130 F.

“Situations like this can happen at any time and to anyone,” said Jeff Truchon, owner of The Atomic Bear. “I feel very proud that one of our products prevented this child from becoming a statistic” concluded Truchon.

The Atomic Bear’s website is a top rate eCommerce Survival Store specializing in tactical gear, self-defense items, and survival tools and equipment.