Child Left in Locked Car Outside N.J. Police Station on 97-Degree Day
A Lakewood police officer unloading his cruiser spotted a toddler in a locked vehicle in the station parking lot, and police used a lock-out tool to rescue the child.
By Jeff Goldman
Source nj.com
July 30, 2025
Lakewood, NJ, Police Department
What to know
A man was arrested for child endangerment after leaving his toddler in a locked car for 24 minutes in 97-degree heat outside the Lakewood Police Department.
Officers spotted the child and used a lock-out tool to gain entry before rushing the child to the hospital, where he was treated and released.
The suspect was taken into custody when he returned to the vehicle.
A New Jersey man left his toddler in a locked car for 24 minutes in the Lakewood Police Department parking lot on Tuesday, when temperatures were in the upper 90s, authorities said.
Simcha Feldman, 34, of Lakewood, faces a charge of child endangerment, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday.
A police officer unloading items from his patrol vehicle at about 3:15 p.m. noticed the child in the locked car.
Officers used a lock-out tool to open a car door and remove the toddler, authorities said.
Emergency workers brought the child to an area hospital, where he was treated and released.
Police arrested Feldman when he returned to his car.
Feldman remains held at the Ocean County jail on Wednesday afternoon. An attorney was not listed for him in court records.
The temperature in the Lakewood area at 2:20 p.m. Tuesday was about 97 degrees with a heat index of 103, according to the National Weather Service.
The temperature in a car is generally considerably hotter than the air temperature.
