Is it possible he read the manual and forgot the instructions? Or panicked?
It's possible. He definitely panicked. He tried everything to break the glass, even going so far as banging his head on the glass.
On the C6 Corvettes the manual release is on the sill, next to the driver/passenger seats.
Here's a photo of it. The passenger door has the same type of release. They're not hidden.

Here's the manual door release(s) for the CyberTruck. I can see that since the back door release is hidden under two pop-off plastic panels, which IMO, is problematic because it's not obvious, like with the Corvettes' release.
Front:
Back: