Pomona police rescue child trapped in washing machine

kcal9 los angeles ^ | may-25-2003 | kcal 9 /AP

[green team 1999]

Pomona police rescue child trapped in washing machine

Sunday May 25, 2003

POMONA, Calif. (AP) A 2-year-old girl was rescued from a locked, running washer at a coin laundry Saturday night and her mother was arrested after a surveillance tape allegedly showed her putting the child into the machine, police said.

An officer smashed the window of the machine with his baton to rescue the girl, who was pulled unconscious but breathing at about 5:30 p.m., authorities said.

The machine was in its agitation phase and the child was ``submerged in water,'' police Sgt. Matt Stone said.

``She wasn't drowned but she was getting there,'' Los Angeles County fire Capt. Dan Ramirez said.

The girl was taken to a hospital in serious condition. She had cuts, scrapes, bruises and had inhaled some water but was expected to survive, Stone said.

Her mother, Erma Osborne, 35, of Pomona, later was arrested for investigation of child endangerment.

Surveillance camera footage showed that the woman placed her daughter in one washer, then removed her and placed her in a second front-loading washer, which turned on when she closed the door, Stone said.

The machine apparently locks automatically when the wash cycle begins and will not unlock until it ends, Ramirez said.

Frantic efforts by the girl's parents and bystanders to unlock the door failed.

It was not immediately clear why the child was placed in the machine, authorities said.

for information and discusion only,not for profit etc,etc.

[MHGinTN]

Sterilizer her and lock her away, the mother I mean. She should never be allowed around children again.

[powderhorn]

but reading between the lines I am not sure this is her trying to kill or punish the child. It almost sounds like she was trying to use the washer as a playpen, and it had time left on it and she didn't realize it.

But the article also said that the machine doesn't stop until the cycle has finished--which sort of suggests that she did put money in to start a new cycle.

[FastCoyote]

A worker friend's wife was the stupidest woman I think I ever met. She had a baby, and horribly scalded it in the bath water. There are people who are just stupid.

[Savage Beast]

I once started a clothes dryer in which my beautiful Abyssinian cat was sleeping. The cat was killed.

I mention this to alert others to the possibility that a pet--or even a child!--could be in a clothesdryer.

Always check the clothesdryer before you start it, and don't leave the door open! --SB

[green team 1999]

bump for safety

[ChemistCat]

If she often does laundry there, she'd know the doors lock and stay locked, wouldn't she?

I can see why a front-loading washing machine would work that way, but some kind of safety override seems necessary. Anybody smell a lawsuit? Putting the child into the washer is clearly a stupid act at best, but making a washing machine that can't be opened while full of water seems even stupider to me. I bet this isn't the only incident caused by this.

And I'm not so sure the kid isn't entitled to some damages, so long as her stupid mother is never never allowed to near her or the money.

[Moonman62]

Her mother, Erma Osborne, 35, of Pomona, later was arrested for investigation of child endangerment.

She can use her new child tax credit to pay her lawyer.