FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – It’s a cheap, tiny low-tech device getting big results in Flagler County.
Deputies use them regularly and, most recently, to save a toddler from a car cooking in the sun.
It was a hot day in May when Flagler County deputies were called to a Walmart parking lot in Palm Coast.
Sheriff’s office body camera video showed what happened next.
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A frustrated, panicked woman and young man were arguing next to their locked car.
“Shut up, shut up!” she told the young man.
They had accidentally locked her 1-year-old inside the car with the engine off.
“How long has been in there?” a responding deputy asked.
“About 10 minutes,” was the answer.
“I’m gonna smash the window then,” the deputy told the frantic mom. “I have to.”
The deputy grabbed a set of “Shatterballs” from his patrol car, threw one at the rear car window – the child was in the front – and shattered the glass.
He used his baton to clear out the rest of the glass and unlocked the door. The child was sweating, but OK.
What are Shatterballs?
Commander Ryan Emery met News 6 at John’s Auto Parts in Bunnell to explain what they are and how they work.
They’re small, steel and spiky, but not sharp.
“It’s not sharp and it’s not very heavy either so if it inadvertently does hit someone it doesn’t hurt them, it’s pretty simple,” Emery said. “You just kind of throw it like a dart and you don’t have to throw it hard you can throw it soft. And with a civilian inside the vehicle if its occupied you typically deploy to a window furthest from them so they don’t get any glass or anything like that on them.”
A bag of Shatterballs costs $20.
“Last year Sheriff Staly directed us to outfit all the patrol deputies with these so that we can help gain access to a vehicle minimizing risk and injury to the public and to the deputies,” Emery said.
Emery said all Flagler County deputies carry Shatterballs in their cars county-wide and have used them at least 20 times since purchasing them just a year ago to make rescues. Every single rescue was successful and safe.
To read more of Erik von Ancken’s series on Protecting Our Community, click here.
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