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Baby locked in a car at Walmart in Kelowna

First responders rescued 4-month-old within a few minutes
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The baby was retrieved after being locked in a car at a Walmart parking lot on Thursday, June 27. She went home smiling. (David Venn - Capital News)

A trip for some morning potatoes turned into painstaking several minutes as a Kelowna mother watched firefighters jimmy the doors of her Nissan open to retrieve her child.

First responders received a report of a baby being accidentally locked in a car at the Walmart parking lot in Kelowna on Thursday, 9:15 a.m.

“Mommy’s shaking, mommy’s shaking,” the woman said, standing with one arm clasped over the other, resting her chin on her fingers.

The firefighters tried to put the woman at ease as they worked at opening the door.

“We were here just last week.”

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When the woman exited her car to get her baby from the back seat, the front door slowly closed, locking the baby in and the mother out.

Typically, one could simply open the door, but, as the woman explained, someone had broken into her car a month earlier, leaving nothing but dairy products, a cigarette lighter and a busted driver-door handle.

“They didn’t even take anything,” she said. “They just left a jug of milk!”

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The baby, only four months old, looked delighted during the process, never breaking smile as the mother entertained her through the window.

After five minutes or so, the door cracked open and the mother grabbed her baby and held her tightly as she rocked her back and forth.

One firefighter smiled and said, “Do you mind putting your lanyard on your neck before we leave?”

She left without potatoes.


@davidvenn_
David.venn@kelownacapnews.com

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