There are plenty of stories that begin with the words “Florida man,” and a lot of them end in ways nobody expects. This one is different. This time, it’s about a father who made a split-second decision that probably saved his children from a much worse outcome, and he didn’t stop to think about what it would cost him.
Dominique Woods had just finished attending church on Father’s Day when he stopped at a Walmart in Port St. Lucie, Florida, to pick up food for a family cookout. It should have been a routine stop. Instead, it turned into the kind of emergency no parent ever wants to experience.
According to WPBF-TV, Woods was with his three young children—a 4-year-old, a 3-year-old, and a 1-year-old. As his oldest climbed out of the truck, something happened that every parent hopes never does. The child accidentally pressed the lock button while getting out, and the keys were still inside.
“My son climbed to the front of the truck to get out, and I didn’t realize I didn’t have my keys on me until he got out of the truck and closed the door,” Woods explained. “But as he was coming out, his hands were on the door, and he hit the lock button unknowingly.”
At first, Woods tried the other doors, hoping one had been left unlocked. No luck.
Meanwhile, the situation inside the truck was getting worse by the minute. Temperatures in Port St. Lucie were reportedly around 94 degrees, and it doesn’t take long for the inside of a parked vehicle to become dangerously hotter than the air outside.
“Just the two minutes in the truck, they were sweating really badly,” Woods recalled.
His younger children were beginning to panic.
“She was freaking out, the baby was crying, and I know she just wanted us to come in there and get her,” he said.
At that point, there wasn’t time to stand around searching for the perfect solution. Woods looked for something to break the window but couldn’t find anything nearby.
So he used the only tool he had.
“I was like, you know what, my fist will probably work, and I just went to town on the window.”
It wasn’t easy. The first punches didn’t do it. Neither did the second. But the third strike finally shattered the glass, allowing him to unlock the truck and pull his children to safety.
The rescue came with a price.
The broken glass badly cut Woods’ hand, leaving it bloodied and requiring treatment at the emergency room.
Looking back, though, he said the injuries never entered his mind while his children were trapped inside.
“In that particular time, you’re not worried about the cuts. You’re not worried about, really, the outcome of yourself, but the outcome of the children.”
Woods also said his faith helped carry him through the terrifying moment.
“I think God was over me and making sure I had the power to get through this window to get my kids.”
Medical experts have long warned that children are especially vulnerable to heat because their body temperatures rise more quickly than adults’, making even a short period inside a hot vehicle potentially dangerous. Woods’ sense of urgency reflected that reality.
After the ordeal, Woods’ wife created a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the unexpected expenses from the ambulance ride, emergency medical treatment, and replacing the shattered truck window.
“We are incredibly grateful that our children are safe and that this frightening accident did not end in tragedy,” she wrote. “Our 4-year-old had no idea what he had done, and accidents happen.”
She added that any contribution would help ease the financial burden their family now faces. As of Thursday evening, the fundraiser had collected more than $4,000.
