Heartbreaking Bodycam Footage Shows Cops Break Window to Rescue Kids from 117-Degree Car — and Man Is Arrested

Two young children were trapped alone in a locked car that hit 117°F in a mall parking lot— until Georgia officers busted the window and pulled them to safety. Now, the alleged driver faces felony charges.

On June 4, Cobb County deputies responded to 911 calls about two young children crying inside a parked vehicle outside Dick’s Sporting Goods at Cumberland Mall, according to Fox 5 Atlanta, KFOX 14 and KGNS News.

“I am standing outside of the Dick’s at Cumberland Mall and there are two children in a car by themselves — small kids crying,” a 911 caller said, per Fox 5. “The windows are cracked, but I don’t think that’s right. We just came out of Dick’s and I heard kids crying.”

Body camera footage released by the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office shows deputies shattering the passenger window and carefully removing the children, a boy and girl, from the back seat.

In the video, the kids appear dazed and overheated, and one deputy can be heard saying, “It’s OK… Oh, you’re hot,” as he unbuckled the young boy and pulled him from the car.

A handheld thermometer recorded the temperature inside the car as 117°F.

Roughly 41 minutes after entering the mall, the car’s driver, identified as J’quawn Dixon, returned to the vehicle and was immediately taken into custody. He allegedly left the kids alone inside the vehicle while he went shopping, according to arrest records cited by the outlets.

Dixon, a 27-year-old from Snellville, Ga., was charged with two counts of second-degree cruelty to children for what investigators described as causing “cruel or excessive physical or mental pain.”

Deputies later praised the bystanders who intervened, writing in a social media post: “A big THANK YOU to the concerned citizens who called 911 … You saw something and did something.”

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Dixon was booked into the Cobb County Jail and released the next day after posting a $10,000 bond. The children were checked by EMS at the scene and did not require hospitalization.

The case remains under investigation. No further updates on the children’s custody status have been released.

According to the National Safety Council, temperatures inside a parked car can rise nearly 20 degrees in just 10 minutes on an 80 degree day.