Toddler Rescues Elderly Man From Hot Car: 'Little Preacher' Keith Williams Called an 'Inspiration and a Blessing'
A toddler rescued an elderly man from a hot car in Tennessee Saturday, and now the man's family and church community is praising the "Little Preacher" who saved a life. 3-year-old Keith Williams was walking by 68-year-old Bob King's car, and although he can't form complete sentences yet, he managed to alert others to the danger of the 120-degree heat.
The toddler who rescued the elderly man was walking by King's car, which was parked close to the Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee when he spotted him. King, a cancer and stroke survivor, was initially waiting for his wife to get back from a church fundraiser, but had become overheated and couldn't open the locked and malfunctioning door.
"I hollered at him and he just looked at me kind of funny and I said 'Get help, get help,'" King told ABC news.
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Keith, who had been taught about the dangers of hot cars just a few days prior by his mother, attempted to open the car door himself, but could not. From there, he ran to Pastor Jack Greene for help, according to WVLT news.
"I was talking to someone and little Keith came behind me and kept saying, 'Locked, locked, locked," Greene explained. When that help, the 3-year-old said "locked, locked, locked" and then "hot, hot" as well.
Pastor Greene managed to make it to King to open the car door from the outside, and when he did the elderly man fell out, nearly cracking his head on the pavement.
"His whole body was raining sweat. His face was red like a pickled beet," Greene told ABC news. "I asked him three times: 'Are you OK Bob?"
Greene and others nearby brought the man into the church's air conditioning and gave him cool water to drink. King, who said he would have had to wait another 20 minutes before his wife returned with the car keys, was very grateful for the quick actions of the "little preacher."
"[Keith] said 'I saved life' after I brought Bob inside," the pastor said. "He is such a good kid. He is an inspiration and a blessing to us."
