New Jersey sheriff's officer rescues child from hot van in store parking lot

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- A Bergen County sheriff's officer broke the window of a van Thursday to rescue a child trapped inside in the stifling heat in a store parking lot.

The manager at Costco in Hackensack alerted Officer Rich Carrion, who was working traffic duty. The child could be heard wailing from inside the car on a hot, humid day.

Carrion noticed the girl was "sweating profusely" and crying in the car seat.

The officer rushed up and smashed the glass to open the minivan door, and only then was it clear, there were no parents there.

Officer Sonya Bekier climbed into the Toyota Sienna and scooped up the crying child. When they took her out, the little girl was drenched in sweat.

The officers started running the minivan's license plate to find the parents. But less then a minute later, the sheriff's office says the mother, Chaeyoung Lim-Kim, with another child on a shopping cart, walked right up.

"Is this your kid?" the officers said.

"Sorry," she said.

"No sorry. She could have died," they said.

Rafael Rodriguez watched the whole drama and can't imagine why the mother thought this was OK.

"I believe this is not the first time that she's done this because she took her older child with her that was maybe 4 or 5 years older, and the fact that she left the four windows cracked open," said Rodriguez. "She knew what she was doing when she did it, and this time she got caught."

The mother was charged with child endangerment and released on her own recognizance.

The toddler found inside the car was treated at Hackensack Medical Hospital and released to the custody of her father..