It’s discouraging to know that there are plenty of people out there who still think it’s perfectly fine to leave a child or an animal inside a closed car on a hot day. But then again, it’s refreshing when even three-year-olds understand it’s an emergency when someone’s stuck in a vehicle, like one very sharp Tennessee toddler.

A man who was waiting for his wife to return from an event at a church ended up trapped when the car’s doors automatically locked, and he couldn’t open it. His wife says he was in “very bad shape,” after numerous cancer treatments and suffering two strokes in the last six months.

That, and the car is tricky, the 68-year-old told ABC News.

“We’ve been having trouble with the door on this car since we bought it,” he explained.

He tried to grab the door, but was too weak to push it open. And without a car key, he couldn’t turn on the air conditions to mitigate the rapidly climbing temperature inside.

That’s when he saw a three-year-old boy walking by — he caught his attention by knocking on the car window until the little one stopped.

“I hollered at him and he just looked at me kind of funny and I said ‘Get help, get help,’” the man explained.

The boy’s mother had apparently educated him about car safety recently (high five, mom) so it was fresh in his mind. Though he was too small to open the door by himself, he ran and got help from the pastor.

The pastor says he was talking to someone when the boy came up to him, repeating, “Locked, locked, locked,” while grabbing his hand and saying, “hot, hot.”

The pastor excused himself and went with the boy to the parking lot, where he saw the man trapped in the car. It took a few tries, but he was able to open the door. The man fell out and almost hit his head on the pavement in the process, the pastor said.

“His whole body was raining sweat. His face was red like a pickled beet,” the pastor said.

After some cool air and water in the church, the man started to feel better. He now says he’s grateful for his little rescuer, who proclaimed afterward, “I saved life.”

“I am very impressed and I’m proud that he would know what to do,” his mom said.

Toddler Saves Elderly Man Locked Inside Hot Car [ABC News]

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