SoCal Aunt Puts Baby in Laundromat Washing Machine: 'The Sickest Thing I Ever Saw'

By Simone Wilson Fri., Apr. 22 2011 at 9:00 AM

Not the victim.

No. 1 worst place to play with your 1-year-old niece/nephew: an automatic-lock washing machine.

If only someone had provided such life wisdom to the 15-year-old aunt of an Ontario baby last night. KCAL9 reports that, while washing clothes with her mom and sister, she was "apparently... playing with the child and placed him in the washer." Bad call.

"I saw it tumbling and it was the sickest thing I ever saw," says laundromat patron and "Good Samaritan" Jeff Holquin. Video (no, not of the baby, you sicko) after the jump.

Looks like hungry bear cubs weren't the only babies in danger in the San Bernardino boonies this week. Hard out there for a tike:

"He was crying, there was blood all on his face, the poor baby," says witness Frances Durrett.

Probably the most disturbing account comes from standerby Jennifer Pena: "All you could see was the baby's chest going up and down really fast and every time the baby would open his eyes, his eyes would literally roll in the back of his head."

Bleh. Luckily, the baby's OK, if scarred for life. Its family members, whom you've got to feel for despite their absentmindedness, now face criminal charges of child neglect.

However, as in most nightly news stories, there is something warm and fuzzy for us to come away with here:

[Holquin] yelled for help, and two construction workers came running.
"When I saw that they were trying to use a crowbar here, and the other guy was on this side, and then finally I thought, well we better break that glass," he told KCAL. "We couldn't stop the machine. There was no safety button, no way to turn off the electricity and it was just chaos." ...

Officers said the child is probably alive because of the quick thinking of some good Samaritans.

"This is a situation where I think just a few more seconds and it would have been a very tragic result," said Freire.

Washing machines: Not toys. Death traps. Lesson learned. Right guys?

[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]

Tags:

baby, child neglect, child services, Ontario, San Bernardino County, washing machine

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Leila

they take the auto lock off and some idiot will stick his head in it in the middle of the cycle, get conked by the paddles and sue for them not locking... or that's why they auto lock now.

cheap washing machines

poor kitten. surprised he survived the washing those machines are violent. hope the kitten goes on to live a long and healthy life.

moroz49

Please tell me - this washign machine service got use people who have no washing machine at home ?Have no water at home ?

CAMSHEEL

HOW DUMB CAN YOU BE? WHAT A DANG MORAN 15 YRS OLD SHOULD NO BETTER UNLESS SHE IS RETARED I HOPE SHE GETS CHARGED.

Trevormore

*retarded

Stagzdbs

know*

Emilyrwilkins

moron*

Philbeekhan

I blame this senerio on the looney tunes production......

Bkkscott

"Its family members, whom you've got to feel for despite their absentmindedness,....."

Are you kidding me?

AFI

LMFAO !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fairlyunbalanced

15 yr old... probably hasn't dropped any calves yet herself... can't we prevent her passing along the moron gene to another generation?

noyb

why are there flowers under the stupid machine. really ppl

noyb

um something in the milk aint clean i mean wtf. but then again i've never been to a laudromat so what do i know seems strange to me in this litigious day and age they would have an automatic locking washing machin

Maybe she didn't know that it was an automatically-locking washing machine. This is the first time I've ever even heard of one.

duh

Does it matter? When does putting a baby in a washing machine - automatically locking or not - ever sound like a good idea?

Guest

first off the reporter here is an idiot..it only automatically locks after you put in the money then push the damn buttons so let's see..she puts the baby in, puts in money, then pushes the buttons then presses start...so sounds to me like she meant it

Amanda61

the girl should have thought before she acted on playing with automatic/lock washing machine with a baby.

Alehound

Ahahahahaha.

Lala1313

how the hell is that funny u sick ass loser

Ryan

i say we retrofit the familiy

Porky

I don't blame the 'washing machines or the fact that it doesnt have a safety lock, i blame the stupid 15 year old aunt!

Bruce Edmund Carroll

ANOTHER GOOD DAMN REASON WHY WASHING MACHINES WITH AUTOMATIC SAFETY LOCKS SHOULD BE RETROFITTED WITH A EMERGENCY SAFETY LOCK OVERRIDE BUTTON - JUST LIKE THE ONES WHERE THE GAS PUMPS ARE SHUT DOWN AND SEALED WITH THE TOUCH OF A RED BUTTON IN THE EVENT OF A FIRE. ONLY THAT IT DISENEGAGES AND SHUTS DOWN ALL WASHING MACHINES. AND UNLOCKS THE SAFETY LOCKS.