I feel like there a perfect metaphor for modern legalism in this. You are stuck in a car that is heating up. You know there is fresh air right on the other side. You know it’s illegal to break the window but it won’t hurt any people and it will help some people. Do you adhere to your common sense or the rule of law?
I ran into a similarly bizarre scenario once where police with assault rifles came into a department store chasing a car thief. A lady nearby started having a panic attack and couldn’t breathe right. I helped her sit down and was grabbing a water bottle out of the fridge by the register and a teenage store attendant stopped me, had a radio discussion with his manager, then they instead had someone bring a cup of water from the in-store cafe (which took maybe 7 minutes while this lady was hyperventilating on the floor with her worried 6 or 7 yearold standing by). I was floored that anyone would worry about the sales status of the water in that scenario.