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This is just flat out awesome.

...Former police officer Chris Willden didn't hesitate ...He pulled his handgun, pushed it up against the submerged windows and shot out the glass.

..."I was trying to grab arms, but I couldn't feel anything," ...

...But he turned to see up to eight other passers-by had scrambled down the embankment to help ...

...after shooting out a window, the rescuer cut a seatbelt to free one child.

...They lifted the car enough to free the three trapped children.

... the other two children were lifeless, ... Both were pulled from the vehicle.

...the boy wasn't breathing and didn't have a pulse but was revived when another passer-by performed CPR.

... both [boy and his sister] are doing well after spending the night in intensive care. ... the father and the second girl escaped injury.

Go RTWT

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-573 ... ?tag=stack" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Reminds us what is so great about Americans . . .

Saw this on the news. Great story.

Awesome

But that's why I also have one of these in my car: http://www.lifehammer.com/ (tool to break car windows and cut seat belts)

What those guys did was great! Not to diminish what they did in any way, but my understanding is that LEOs routinely break car windows with the butt of their Glocks. In this case there was some risk in firing it, not knowing for sure where the bullet will go.

rdcrags wrote:What those guys did was great! Not to diminish what they did in any way, but my understanding is that LEOs routinely break car windows with the butt of their Glocks. In this case there was some risk in firing it, not knowing for sure where the bullet will go.

I would imagine that the water resistance would make breaking the glass with the butt of a gun more difficult. In this case with only seconds he had to improvise with the tools he had and the benefit far outweighed the risk.

...those little hammers are great for using when you're IN the submerged car...but water resistance would be great enough I doubt you could get enough swing from OUTSIDE to break windows in a submerged car...a spring-loaded centerpunch will do it from outside...a good item to have velcro attached where you can grab it if you come up on something like this...I used to carry a pen-sized one in my shirt pocket...

This story was featured this morning on the Today show.

I was very surprised - they said a handgun was used to break the glass and to allow entry into the car. They even had a computer illustration showing a man with a gun shooting out the window. (showed using two handed grip)

They could have left the gun use completely out and John Q Public would have never been the wiser.

Will wonders never end.

The key to breaking side windows on cars is to concentrate the force into a small point in one corner of the window (the center seems to be the strongest area). Thus those little hammers (the ones I've seen anyway) have a point on the face of them to concentrate that little bit of mass being swung by your arm. Likewise the spring-loaded ones -- the spring is not all that strong, but the striker is a sharp little spike. Conversely, you can pound away with a fairly heavy object, but if it is hitting over a broad area, it tends to bounce off. There are some videos of police officers trying to break a car window with their batons and having no luck because the batons are hitting more or less parallel to the glass (and in the middle of it).

A bullet fired out of a handgun concentrates a fair amount of force in a small area, of course. Just make sure the passenger is not right behind it and hope for no bad deflections.

Oh, one other point; when aiming a tool such as a hammer or axe or similar item at the corner of the window, do it in such a way that the car body or window frame will stop the handle of the tool next to the head -- that way the whole tool doesn't go rocketing through the window from momentum and strike the occupant you are trying to save. Very embarrassing, that.

Cars have two kinds of glass: tempered and laminated. Laminated is on the front window and tempered is everywhere else.

Laminated is thinner and is ordinary annealed glass (weaker) laminated with a vinyl plastic between two layers.
Laminated glass is less prone to shatter on its own and stays in the frame. Important for that location.

Tempered glass is four times stronger than regular glass of the same thickness. It however is in tension on the outside and in compression on the inside. It can break just looking at it wrong. However, it is really strong until it decides it wants to break.

It is very prone to break from any sort of nick or scratch or other imperfection as it is its nature to try and break if it can.

Thus those little pointy hammers are perfect. I have n't tried a diamond ring as I don't own one. But putting any sort of defect in the side or back car glass before you started hitting it would seem like a good idea.

philip964 wrote:Cars have two kinds of glass: tempered and laminated. Laminated is on the front window and tempered is everywhere else.

Laminated is thinner and is ordinary annealed glass (weaker) laminated with a vinyl plastic between two layers.
Laminated glass is less prone to shatter on its own and stays in the frame. Important for that location.

Tempered glass is four times stronger than regular glass of the same thickness. It however is in tension on the outside and in compression on the inside. It can break just looking at it wrong. However, it is really strong until it decides it wants to break.

It is very prone to break from any sort of nick or scratch or other imperfection as it is its nature to try and break if it can.

Thus those little pointy hammers are perfect. I have n't tried a diamond ring as I don't own one. But putting any sort of defect in the side or back car glass before you started hitting it would seem like a good idea.

Spring loaded center punch (the type used for nail setting) works well in water. Have had occasion to know that first hand, but the car was empty when we got in.