Parents lately seem to have become cold to the dangers of leaving a child alone inside a car. Despite regular reports of babies, and children suffering the consequences the latest news of such negligence comes from Northeast Philadelphia where a 1 year old was locked inside a car in the Walmart parking lot.
According to local police the 1 year old baby girl was inside a car in the parking lot of the Walmart on the 9700 block of Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia. They suspect that she might have been inside for more than half an hour. Thankfully for her though, helped arrived just in time.
Anthony Lope was passing by the car when he heard the crying of the baby,
“She’s screaming and she’s yelling. She’s sweating really bad. It’s hot and the windows are up.”
Anthony and his wife Ruqayah tried to help the baby.
“The baby was hurt,” said his wife. “The way that baby was screaming you could tell. You saw the sweat through the window before she came out.”
The two called the police and asked for help inside the store. They also tried to open the lock to rescue the wailing child.
“I panicked,” Lopez said. “I went into my truck, grabbed a bat and tried to break the window.”
Soon police arrived and rescued the baby girl. She was immediately taken to the hospital where doctors reported her to be fine.
The girl’s mother, 24-year-old Jasmin Ingram, was taken into custody. She was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and child endangerment. The mother told the cops that she had gone inside the store only for a few minutes, but the officials believe the baby was inside the hot car for at least half an hour.
DHS is currently investigating the case. The child is being looked after by her father.
Thank you so much to the passerby who took the time to help this child. If everyone paid more attention to their surroundings and stepped in when seeing a child alone in a vehicle, think how many children could be saved. Most people are unaware that it only takes 10 minutes for the temperature in a car to heat up 20 degrees; in that short time, mere minutes, a child (or pet) can succumb to heat stroke and die. Please visit kidsandcars.org and forgetmenotusa.com for more information on how you can help.
Dear Atula,
I saw your article about the child being left in a hot car at the Wal-Mart in Philadephia. I am an amateur inventor. 3 weeks ago I filed a patent for an alarm that can stop these accidents from occurring. It sounds a music box like reminder chime anytime you have placed a child in the back when you get out and automatically puts itself to sleep when you open the back door and take your baby out till the next time. I thought your readers would find it to be of timely interest. I am now looking for parents of toddlers who would be interested in purchasing as field testers to test it in the real world and willing to provide feedback on their user experience before going public. The cost is $19. I have a demo video and full details on my website at http://www.backseatbabyalarm.com/. If you can help me get this information into the hand of parents, that would be so appreciated.
Thank you for your support and consideration. Also, I believe my website is the only place you will find accurate, hand checked statistics on these accidents. So many time I see the numbers misreported.
There have already been 37 deaths caused by heatstroke and it’s only September. The youngest was a 2 month old infant; the oldest was 4 yrs. old. Every one of these deaths is tragic and unnecessary.
There is a brand new product being launched to help parents and caregivers remember to double check and to look before locking. It’s called the Reminder Wrapster and it fits on the steering wheel on any vehicle. It costs less than a fancy cup of coffee. Visit http://www.reminderwrapster.com for more information.