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1-Year-Old Ore. Boy Drowns In Washing Machine


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1-year-old Ore. boy drowns in washing machine

Associated Press – Mon, Apr 2, 2012

http://news.yahoo.co...-151325812.html

OREM, Utah (AP) — At 21 months, Ollie Hebb was his mother's helper on laundry day, climbing atop a bin so he could toss clothes into a top-loading washer.

On the morning he went missing for a few minutes, Tiffany Hebb went through her house calling for him but got no answer. She found the toddler in the washing machine, submerged in a full tub. He died a day later.

His mother, recently moved to Oregon from Utah, says she never thought the washing machine would be a danger to her child and is telling the story to make parents aware of the danger.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission, a federal agency, says such deaths are rare — two children under the age of 5 died in washing machines between 2005 and 2009, according to a 2011 report.

"I ran through my whole house, calling his name and couldn't find him anywhere," Tiffany Hebb told The Deseret News (http://bit.ly/HAwgTZ ), "not ever thinking that he would be in my washer."

Tiffany and Chris Hebb will likely not face charges, Hillsboro, Ore., police spokesman Michael Rouches said Monday.

"Detectives don't believe that this was an intentional crime or that anyone stuck the baby in the washer," Roushes said Monday morning. "We have the DA's office look into it, just to make sure there wasn't a degree of negligence."

Rouches said detectives looked but couldn't find other cases when toddlers drowned under similar circumstances.

"She was 30 feet away in the living room, reading a magazine," Rouches said. "It wasn't like the mother had this kid unattended at the time."

The 2011 report says two children under the age of 5 died in washing machines between 2005 and 2009. During that timeframe, 350 children died in bathtubs, and 77 drowned in something else, such as a decorative water feature, a cooler or a septic tank.

The boy died after a day on life support. His organs were donated.

The couple had recently moved from Orem, Utah, to the Portland suburb where Chris Hebb had found a job.

The newspaper reports the boy was buried over the weekend in Utah.

"Every night when I go to sleep, I start feeling sick," Chris Hebb told the newspaper. "Every time I wake up, I think this is a nightmare and then realize it's real. . You hear a baby crying in the night from a neighbor's house. You wake up, hoping it's your little boy, and then realize he's not there."

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I thought he was helping her; how could someone possibly lose sight of someone so important to them who was yet so very fragile?

I find this segment especially appalling:

"She was 30 feet away in the living room, reading a magazine," Rouches said. "It wasn't like the mother had this kid unattended at the time."
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Obviously none of you actually know what it's like to be around young children. Often times they can slip out of your sight without you even realizing it, even if you are "keeping an eye on them". I have a niece and just the other day I was babysitting her.....I took a break from playing toys with her and sat down on the couch with a book; next thing I new she was in the other room.

All I'm saying is that you shouldn't be blaming the Mother, and realize that stuff can happen (very quickly).

P.S. Children like to be helpful, it's in their nature. The mother might have just been letting him toss stuff into the washer for a minute while she sat down.

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this is so sad.

kids are very unpredictable and can slip away at any moment - if you turn your head away for a single moment.

you cannot watch a kid 24/7, there will always be moments where your attention is turned elsewhere.

i am a lifeguard and there are times where i have turned my head to talk help another kid and turn back and another kid has climbed out of the pool to run to his mom/dad.

this is a very sad situation and while a lot of people want to call bad parenting, i do not think this is the case.

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I feel bad for this mother. Being a parent to a toddler is exhausting at times. This Mom probably thought she had baby proofed the house but never thought her little guy would climb up and then fall into a washing machine. It is a one in several million occurrence what happened. How do you foresee that?

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So a one year old can actually - on their own - climb up a washing machine and physically lift the lid up high enough, that they fall in? Are one year olds really capable of this? I find it hard to believe that a child that young, could accomplish such a feat. I will have to reserve judgement until more details come out.

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