"After everything, my kids are okay, I'm okay, and that's all that really matters," Dominique Woods said
NEED TO KNOW
- One of Dominique Woods' children accidentally locked the family's truck as he was exiting, leaving his two other siblings trapped inside
- Not wanting to endanger his kids' lives, Woods shattered the truck's window using his fist
- The kids emerged safe and Woods was taken to a hospital for major cuts to his arm and hand
A father in Florida went to the extreme to rescue two of his young children after their other sibling accidentally locked them inside the family's truck.
"In that particular time, you're not worried about the cuts,” dad Dominique Woods told ABC affiliate WPBF on Monday, June 22, of having to punch through his truck's window. “You're not worried about, really, the outcome of yourself, but the outcome of the children.”
The ordeal occurred on Sunday, June 21, after the family left church and stopped by at a Walmart in Port St. Lucie to pick up items for a Father’s Day cookout.
According to a GoFundMe created by the family, Woods' 4-year-old climbed through the middle of the truck to exit on his father's side.
“While holding onto the door, he unknowingly pressed the lock button before shutting it,” Woods' wife wrote in the fundraiser description. In doing so, he left the couple's 3-year-old and 1-year-old trapped. Also inside were the keys to the truck.
Woods said he made his way to the back door, which was locked. At the time, the temperature outside was about 94 degrees, WPBF reported.
“She was freaking out, the baby was crying, and I know she just didn't, you know, she just wanted us to come in there and get her,” Woods told WPBF. “They were sweating really bad.”
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Woods decided to act: “He punched through the window and reached through the shattered glass to unlock the vehicle and get our children to safety,” Woods' wife wrote in the GoFundMe. “Thankfully, our children were out in less than two minutes.”
Woods recalled to WPBF, “I was like, ‘You know what, and just, I mean, my fist will work, probably,' and I just went to town on the window."
The family said that police arrived shortly after their children were rescued. However, Woods sustained major cuts to his hand and arm from shattering the glass, and was taken to a hospital for treatment.
While Woods acknowledged that he could have waited for emergency responders to arrive before he punched the window, he didn't want to take that chance.
"After everything, my kids are okay, I'm okay, and that's all that really matters," he told WPBF.
In their GoFundMe, Woods’ family expressed gratitude that their kids are safe, adding that the fundraiser is intended to raise money for the costs of the ambulance ride, emergency care and replacement of the truck’s window.
According to a report by Kids and Car Safety, Florida ranks second in the number of child hot car deaths from 1990 to 2025.
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