Emergency Crews Never Show To Help Girl Trapped In Car
Three Calls Yield No Result
POSTED: 11:55 am EDT September 27, 2005 
UPDATED: 7:00 pm EDT September 27, 2005
 
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- A woman whose baby was stuck in a hot car never got help from emergency officials, News 5's Amy Wagner reported.
 
Sue Faulkner had buckled her 2-year-old granddaughter, Ellie, into a car seat in her Volkswagen Passat at a Middletown Wal-Mart.
 
Then she tossed her keys in the car, and the keyless entry remote control hit a CD case, locking the doors.
 
" I heard the lock go off, and my heart dropped at that time," she said. "I was scared. The windows weren't even cracked, and it was 85 degrees outside at that time, and it was sealed tight."
 
Faulkner asked a customer in the parking lot to call 911.
 
Ellie was calm at first, but she started to get upset and hot.
 
" By then I could see sweat dripping off her legs," Faulkner said.
 
She asked another customer to call 911. Meanwhile, the girl's mother arrived.
 
" She's my life, and I don't want to see anything bad happen to her," Jessie Aponte said. "There was nothing I could do."
 
More than 25 minutes later, Ellie was still trapped, so Faulkner and Aponte had a Wal-Mart manager call 911.
 
The dispatcher told him that a locksmith from Ultimate Locks and Security was on the way to get Ellie out. But he never showed.
 
Paramedics arrived at the Wal-Mart, but not to help Ellie out -- a customer inside the store had an asthma attack. After they were finished with that call, they broke out the back window of Faulkner's Volkswagen and freed Ellie.
 
The girl didn't suffer any injuries, but Aponte said she's furious and flabbergasted.
 
" You call 911, and you expect somebody to come and help, and nobody did," she said.
 
The Middletown Police Department told News 5 the locksmith was at the scene 20 minutes after the first call was placed, and as far as officials are concerned, the situation was handled according to procedure.
 
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