"Keep your feet and fingers in the car, or I'll lock your windows!" I can't tell you how many times I shout that phrase into the back of my minivan as my children seem obsessed with feeling the breeze on their limbs. Sometimes I feel like a nag, especially when they point out the plethora of dogs that do it with no problem, but I'm okay with that -- especially after reading about a tragic accident involving a 5-year-old boy in Maine last week.
According to the Bangor Daily News, the boy identified only as Noah was riding in the car with his grandmother last Tuesday evening. He had a jump rope tied to one wrist and was, for some reason, dangling the other end of it out of the car window. Another car came by, and the rope caught on it. His hand was completely severed.
An as-of-yet-unidentified woman was key in the boy's survival, say relatives. She was apparently passing by when she saw the accident, and jumped out of the vehicle she was in, grabbed the boy's severed hand, and saved it from being run over. Police and the boy's family have taken to Facebook to try and find her so they can thank her. Sharon Stetz, the boy's grandmother, who was driving the car, stated:
This woman is most certainly the reason my grandson is alive today ... he was bleeding to death right in front of my eyes and I did not know what to do ...
Thank goodness for her, and thank goodness the boy is alive. As bad as it is, I hate to think how much worse it could have been if the rope had been tied to a foot or his neck. Doctors tried to reattach his hand, but there are no reports yet as to if it worked.
It was a freak accident for sure, but also one that was so easily preventable. So the next time my children roll their eyes when I tell them to keep their limbs in the car, I'll tell them this story ... and probably just lock the windows anyway.
Do your children try to stick their arms and legs out the car window?
Image via Eamonn/Flickr
Ashley Is a Widow Who Stays Strong...
This Hot Dad Wants to Vacuum Your Rug
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
KStew Refuses to Shower
Comments 29
So this is the fault of the windows being open, and NOT because the kid had a rope tied around his wrist, flying outside the car? NOT because Grandma wouldn't drive until that rope was untied and stowed on the floor of the car?
Nope, it's because the windows were down.
Common sense, people. Come ON!!!
Either way, its just dumbassery to let a kid hang things out a window, especially if its tied to them.
Grandma is at fault, not the open window.
This is why I don't let my kids tie things around their limbs, because stuff like this can happen in or out of a car.
Thankfully, our car has window locks for the back seats, so our son cant even roll down the window let alone stick his limbs or toys out. And thank God for that because he probably would if given the chance, the little trouble maker.
I am sure grandma probably didnt even know though, keeping her eyes on the road. Kid probably thought it would be fun, like a "kite in the wind" and stuck the rope out without grandma noticing. Children are pretty sneaky...
My children can't because we have a two door car, so they don't get a window that rolls down... and when we are in vehicles where their window does roll down, then I make it clear that they aren't to roll their windows down past a certain point!
PonyChaser - I don't think the author is suggesting this happened merely because the car windows were down. I believe she said she will keep them down from now on because it is easier then getting her children to keep their limbs in the car. Really, I can't believe you actually thought she meant that...-_-
Glad the child is ok. I'm betting none of his friends will be sticking any of their body parts or anything else out of the window any time soon.
CPN, if she didn't mean that, then why is she never opening the windows again and probably locking them?
She's saying that the windows will NEVER be opened because this kid's hand got severed. She's not telling her kids not to tie things to their limbs because this kid was hanging the rope out the window, no... it's because the window was open.
It's called parenting. Kids sticking their hands out the windows and getting cut off is SUCH a freak accident - think of how close you'd have to be for something to hit those arms. This accident didn't happen because he had his hand out the window! It happened because he tied a rope to it and threw the rope out the window!!
To further horrify you, I use the 'hand out the window' thing to teach my son how Bernoulli's Principle works to lift airplanes off the ground. So I suppose I'm a horrible mom, because I let my son do that. Note: he never has anything tied to said hand, and if he sticks anything else out that window, he's busted good. And he knows it. And here's the thing... HE DOESN'T DO IT.
No sealed or locked windows needed.