Mom Emotional Thanking Police Who Rescued Baby After He Falls 8' Underground
An Oregon mother of two is praising her local police and fire departments for rescuing her 10-month-old son who fell into a heating vent inside the family’s home.
Saydie Reedy, from Coburg, Oregon, is thankful that her son’s ordeal was not worse.
She credits the Coburg Police Department and Coburg Fire District for coordinating a team effort that saved her baby boy.
Reedy told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she was doing dishes last week while her two sons, Jackson, 3, and Kolson, 10 months, played nearby.
Mom Pleads with Parents About Dangers of Heating Vents After Baby Falls 8 Feet Underground https://t.co/cwfFRnHc0U
— People (@people) January 22, 2020
She recalled the moment that Jackson ran into the room and said repeatedly, “Baby in.”
Jackson pointed to an open heating vent on the floor, the vent’s grated cover and loose screws nearby.
Reedy believes that because the screws were not properly tightened, Jackson managed to pull the cover off the vent, leaving the baby-sized hole exposed and allowing him to fall 8 feet below the home.
“I couldn’t even fathom that my baby was down a vent,” Reedy told ABC. “I never even thought of that.”
The family moved into the 1920s-style home last August and are in the middle of home renovations, which is why the screw had been left loose, Reedy told “GMA.”
Panicked, Reedy called 911.
A team of first responders, including Coburg Police Officer Kevin Wilson, were able to hear the boy crying through the vent opening.
The rescue team located a crawl space underneath the family’s home and Wilson was the one to remove his gear and climb into the tight space.
Wilson followed the sound of Kolson’s cries until he reached the boy.
“As soon as I grabbed his arm he stopped crying and then he just looked at me like, ‘What are you doing here?'” Wilson told “GMA.”
In the end, Kolson emerged relatively unscathed from the incident, sporting just a few minor scratches.
Now, Reedy is urging parents to walk through their homes and look for safety hazards, thinking from the perspective of a toddler.
“I didn’t think I had to worry about the vents,” Reedy told ABC. “There’s other dangers in the world to worry about, I thought, than heating vents.”
Reedy later visited the police station with Kolson so they could thank Wilson and his team again, in person.
Wilson appreciated the gesture, calling the reunion “really emotional.”
“I think afterwards you look back and think, ‘Was it really that bad?’ and then you think it through and it was bad and could have been way worse. The reality of what you did kind of hits you,” Wilson told “GMA.”
Wilson echoed Reedy’s advice to check homes for safety hazards, as children are impulsive and curious, which can be a dangerous combination.
“The very thing you’re thinking a kid would never do, they’ll do,” he said.
“You have to think the way they’d be thinking and think of the things their fingers can get on.”
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