A dramatic rescue unfolded in Croydon today when police officers, who were guarding a crime scene on Canterbury Road in Thornton Heath, rushed to the aid of a distressed man who reported that a baby had been accidentally locked inside a nearby house with a cooker left on.
The quick-thinking officers immediately sprang into action, with one officer running from the crime scene to the house in question, and additional police cars arriving to provide support.
The London Fire Brigade was also summoned to the scene and arrived within approximately five minutes. Upon hearing the cries of the infant girl inside the property, firefighters used a hydraulic door ram to safely gain access to the house, ensuring the child could be retrieved without harm.
Following the successful rescue, the child was reported to be unharmed, and the police officers returned to their duty at the crime scene near the Lombard Roundabout.
A man who witnessed the incident, recounted the events, saying, “Two police officers at the crime scene were approached by someone who said a mother had locked herself out of her building with her young baby inside. So me and a female officer ran up – I had to keep her little son with me while they were with the officer – they got everyone down here in minutes.”
He went on to describe the rescue operation, explaining, “First it was local officers [who arrived in police cars] and they were going to use the battering ram, but then the TSG [Territorial Support Group] turned up, and they used a hydraulic door ram [put against the door frame to stretch it and open the door without pushing it inwards] – like the ones they use for busting drug dealers – in case the toddler was behind the door.”
Sid Shahid, the owner of the property where Rainbow Motors and other car businesses are located in Canterbury Road, mentioned that some of the 16 CCTV cameras on the site had captured the incident. According to Shahid, the police initially contacted him, stating that there had been some sort of attack at the location overnight.
