A Tampa 911 dispatcher faces disciplinary action because of his response to a mother who called for help after her 10-month-old son accidentally locked himself in her car.

After stopping at the CVS store on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard on Saturday afternoon, Shana Dees put her son Jack into his car seat while she moved a cart in the parking lot. The boy, while playing with the car keys, hit the lock button.

Dees called her husband and asked him to bring an extra set of keys, but recognizing how hot it was, she also called 911.

"Hi, my infant son is locked in a car in the parking lot," Dees said to the dispatcher. "He has the keys and hit the (lock button) while I was loading groceries in.

"And it's so hot outside, I'm really ... I'm concerned. I don't think I have time to call AAA before he would suffer heat exhaustion. Can somebody come out and open the door? Or I don't even know if that's something you guys do."
 
The dispatcher responded: "Ma'amm we won't be able to gain access to the car unless the child is in some kind of distress. And, by that point, they might just smash your windows."

"OK, alright, thank you," Dees said.

An off-duty police officer who was in the area called 911 and reached a different dispatcher who immediately sent help. But just as four patrol cars and a fire rescue truck were arriving, another person who had grabbed a wrench from the CVS utility smashed one of the car's windows.

Jack was unharmed.

On Tuesday, Tampa police released a statement about the situation.

"I want to clarify that the dispatcher did not say no," police spokesperson Laura McElroy said. "He said, 'We don't have a way to unlock your car, but if your child is in distress by then, we just break the window.' "

Tampa Police Department protocol for a child locked in a car is to always send a police officer and fire rescue immediately. The original dispatcher was correct in saying officers would have had to smash a window, but the dispatcher didn't even ask for a location or condition of the baby.

The dispatcher faces disciplinary action, which could range from a written reprimand to suspension, police said.