Video shows Illinois police rescue family, toddler trapped inside sinking car: ‘Break it!’

Three Illinois police officers lept into the freezing waters of a retention pond and smashed open the windows of a car to rescue a young family — including their toddler — who were trapped inside and slowly sinking below the surface. “Break it, break it!” an officer can be heard saying in bodycam footage seconds before his partner smashed the window, sending glass exploding into the water.

The jaw dropping footage opens with the cops sprinting to the scene last week shortly after the SUV plunged into a pond in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, the police department said Wednesday. After confirming with a witness that the family wasn’t able to escape on their own, the officers barrel into the water with no apparent hesitation despite the below freezing temperatures that hit the state for the New Year.

They desperately tried to pry the doors open, but quickly realized they wouldn’t budge. That’s when they smashed the window and climbed through the opening instead — which sent the terrified 2 year old into a fit of hysterics. “You’re okay, sweetie!” the father can be heard reassuring his daughter, despite his own fear lingering in his voice.

One officer quickly brought the little girl — whose car seat had been sitting in waist deep water — to the safety of land while their partners successfully opened the front doors for her parents. The couple had sunk into chest deep water by the time they were freed. “I’m sorry,” the woman said between sobs and severe shivers.

The family received medical treatment, as well as one of their rescuers, who was treated for minor cuts and cold exposure, WGN9 reported. “Their ability to remain calm and do what needed to be done to help the frantic family is commendable!” police said in a statement. A preliminary investigation suggests that the plunge was an accident that occurred after the driver of the SUV mistook the gas for the brake pedal.

The incredible rescue comes just one week after Florida police and firefighters formed a human chain to recover a car full of presents that had crashed into a watery ditch. The first responders went back in for the Christmas gifts after rescuing a mom and her three young children from the wreckage..