Austin Collins Was at a St. Peters, Missouri, Bus Stop When an SUV Rolled Into a Pond With 3-Year-Old Melody Inside, So He Broke the Window With a Hammer

The school bus stop at The Reserve at the Mid Rivers apartments in St. Peters, Missouri, sits beside a parking lot, and past the edge of that lot a hill runs down to a pond. On Thursday, Nov. 5, at about 7:40 a.m., an SUV with a 3-year-old girl inside rolled down that hill and into the water, according to KMOV.

Austin Collins was at the same bus stop, dropping off his own kids. He called 911, jumped in, and when someone handed him a hammer he broke a window to reach the girl, Melody, as Gray News reported. She is doing fine.

A Normal Morning at the Bus Stop

Megan Kohlhaas had parked near the pond with the other parents waiting for the bus. She told Wide Open Country it was “just a normal morning” of waiting with the cars lined up. She got out to walk her other children to the stop, and Melody stayed in the SUV.

Kohlhaas told KMOV the engine was off when she stepped out and that she does not know what made the vehicle move. A moment later her children shouted that the car was rolling. Wide Open Country quoted the cry the family heard: “The car! The car!”

How Collins Got to Melody

Collins saw the SUV go into the pond, called 911 and went in. He told Gray News he held onto the vehicle to stay afloat and had no idea how deep the water was. Cottleville Fire District Battalion Chief Eric Litteken later said the SUV ended up in about eight feet of water, per Wide Open Country.

A hammer was passed to Collins from the bank. Kohlhaas said she was struck by how fast someone was able to pass it to someone in the water. He used it to break a window, and the broken glass cut his hand.

Collins told KMOV that he cleared away as much glass as he could with his hand before he grabbed Melody. Kohlhaas said her daughter had unbuckled her own car seat, which she believes helped save her life.

Bystanders Who Pulled Together

Collins was not the only one in the water. KMOV reported that Kohlhaas and several bystanders rushed in, and that St. Peters police said one man broke a window with a hammer while another pulled the girl from the sinking SUV. Police said both rescuers were hurt: one reported a broken ankle, and three bystanders were taken to a hospital with cuts and bruises.

Kohlhaas said there was “no amount of words” that could express her thanks for how quickly people reacted. She credited Collins directly, saying the family would not have had Melody back without him. Collins pointed the credit back at her. “Kudos to the mom,” he said, adding that she “created that urgency early on” so everyone could act at once.

Melody is doing fine, Gray News reported, and KMOV said mother and daughter were recovering at home. Wide Open Country added that the girl was taken to a nearby hospital after the rescue. A GoFundMe has been started to help Kohlhaas replace the car.

What Investigators Still Have to Explain

Why the SUV rolled has not been fully explained. Gray News said information from investigators is still pending. Wide Open Country reported that St. Peters police believe the 3-year-old accidentally moved the vehicle into gear, that the department considers the incident accidental and that its traffic unit is still looking into it. That account has not been confirmed in the KMOV reports.

Kohlhaas and the man who broke the window have both said they would like barriers installed around the pond, KMOV reported.

Rollaway Basics Parents Can Use at Any Bus Stop

Rollaways are well documented. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that “vehicle rollaway can happen in an instant,” and advises caregivers to “always supervise children and never leave them alone in or around a vehicle for any reason.” NHTSA’s guidance for parents also says to engage the emergency brake every time a vehicle is parked, even if it has a brake-interlock system, and to confirm the vehicle is fully in Park before shutting it off. Push-button vehicles can roll if turned off without being in Park.

The group Kids and Car Safety cites a 2022 NHTSA report that found an average of 110 deaths and 177 injuries a year from rollaway vehicles with no driver in control, many involving unattended children who knocked a vehicle into gear. Its Vehicles Set in Motion guide says to keep keys and fobs out of children’s reach, never leave keys inside a vehicle and keep it locked when not in use.

The guide also describes a simple test of the brake-to-shift interlock that automatic vehicles have been required to have since 2010: with the parking brake on, try shifting out of Park without pressing the brake in each key position. Many vehicles lack the interlock in at least one position, most often the half-click position that young children can find easily.

For families waiting at a bus stop on a slope, the NHTSA basics come down to the parking brake and not leaving a young child alone in a parked vehicle, even for the minute it takes to walk siblings to the bus. The pond rescue worked because bystanders acted in seconds. The guidance exists so no family has to depend on that. More seasonal car-safety reminders are in this AAP pediatrician’s Thanksgiving travel rules.

Get stories like this by email. Sign up for The Parent Diaries Letter.

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: George Chernilevsky – Public domain/Wikimedia Commons