CREATED Apr. 15, 2014 A frantic mom called police Monday night when she discovered her three-year-old son was missing from their Lincoln, Neb., apartment. The mother said the boy went out an unlocked door and disappeared while she was in the bathroom.
Turns out, he hadn’t gone far. Police quickly got word that a boy matching the missing child’s description was at a bowling alley across the street from his home, where he’d crawled inside a claw vending machine full of stuffed toys and was “playing happily,” according to the Omaha World-Herald.
Employees of both Madsen's Bowling & Billiards and the vending machine company assisted in removing the child safely.
“No citations were issued to the mother as there was no indication of neglect,” reports the World-Herald. “Police said she acted quickly and appropriately upon learning her son was missing.”
Post by penguingrrl on Apr 16, 2014 7:48:09 GMT -5
How did he get in there??? That's so weird! And I feel for that mom. My son is 14 months and can already unlock the lock on the doorknob so I have to keep our deadbolt locked to keep him in. I imagine he'll figure out how to reach that soon.
Some of the stuffed toy vending machines have enormous doors, if the prizes are large. The B-W3 near us has one like that and one time I saw a little girl climb in and start passing the toys out to her brother.
mrsukyankee - I thought of that video too; thanks for posting that. It cracks me up every time. Kid's like, "mmm, what should I grab? Cool, this looks cool, no maybe that."
That video is not from the story; that's an old one. Probably same idea though - the toddler crawled up the exit chute.
All I can say is thank heavens my kid is too lazy to bother trying to leave the house or climb in toy machines. She only just started opening unlocked doors at 2 1/2 because I wouldn't open them for her anymore.