A fast-acting three-year-old is being credited with saving a Tennessee man's life.

Three year-old rescues man from hot car

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Cheryl Santa Maria

Digital Reporter

Wednesday, July 16, 2014, 5:44 PM - A three year-old with good instincts and a heart of gold has become a local hero after rescuing a man stuck inside a sweltering car in Tennessee.

Bob King, 68, was waiting for his wife to return from a church event on Saturday when found himself trapped inside his car.

"We’ve been having trouble with the door on this car since we bought it," he told ABC News.

King is in poor health and was too weak to open the door. He didn't have the car keys with him, so he was unable to turn the air conditioning on.

He started to panic as temperatures started to climb to the 50-degree mark. He was in the car for about five minutes when 3 year-old Keith Williams wandered by.

King knocked on the window and the boy stopped.

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“I hollered at him and he just looked at me kind of funny and I said ‘Get help, get help,’” he recalls.

The young boy wasn't able to open the door himself so he ran over to his Pastor and tugged on his arm.

"And he kept pulling at my hand and eventually I turned around and looked at him. I said 'what's going on?' He said 'locked. Locked!'" says Pastor Jack Greene.

Pastor Greene followed the boy to the car and was able to open the door.

Keith's mother says she's "very impressed" with her little hero.

According to ABC news, Keith's mom had taught her son about the dangers of hot cars just days before the incident.