Story Archive

At Least She Was in a Car Seat

A couple parked in front of Pasco County Courthouse in New Port Richey, Fla., called for help: they had accidentally locked their baby in their SUV. The father told deputies he couldn’t afford a locksmith and was going to smash the window to get to the 1-year-old girl, but a work crew of inmates dressed in their black-and-white-striped prisoner garb said they could help. As the girl’s mother, Shadow Lantry, recorded video on her cell phone, one or two of them helped the father pull the top of the door back to create a gap, while another inmate slipped a coat hanger through the gap and deftly clicked the unlock button. “A lot of them, like these individuals, they know they made bad mistakes, bad choices,” said Sheriff Chris Nocco, “but they want to do the right thing in life.” (RC/WFLA Tampa, WZVN Naples) ...When asked how they knew how to break in to a car so quickly and without causing damage, the inmates all said “No comment.”