"We don't unlock vehicles," the 911 operator is heard telling Lacy Guyton.
A desperate Michigan mom's pleas for help initially went unanswered after she accidentally locked her infant daughter inside her minivan.
“I grabbed a piece of asphalt and hit the window over and over again, maybe 100 times, but it would not budge," Lacy Guyton said of the incident. "My biggest fear in that moment was our baby dying right in front of our very eyes."
She was with her grandmother, Mary Riley, who called 911.
But to their utter astonishment, the 911 operator in Waterford said she could not help the 2-month-old baby.
“My granddaughter just put her baby in the car and the car door locked and we can't get in it," a panicked Riley told the dispatcher.
“We don't unlock vehicles,” the operator replied.
The grandmother could not believe what she was hearing as her great-granddaughter sat in the hot car.
Guyton then called 911 herself, and wound up getting the same operator her grandmother spoke to.
“I can send you a wrecker service and they will charge you. The fire department doesn't come out for that,” the operator told the mom.
“I was getting more and more concerned that the baby was not going to make it,” Riley said. “Watching my granddaughter and great-granddaughter suffer at the same time was just too much for me.”
The mom took matters into her own hands and smashed the back window with a window-breaker, crawled in and grabbed her child.
The police department later issued a statement admitting they had made a mistake.
“We should have responded in this case as we should respond in any similar case when there is a concern for the health, safety or welfare of any person, especially a young child,” the statement read. "We acknowledge our mistake and are doing everything we can to make sure we do not repeat it."
The infant was hot and sweaty when she was rescued, but did not suffer any lingering medical issues.
RELATED STORIES
