The Liberty Papers

As a father of a toddler, when I heard this story on the radio this morning, I was completely heartbroken for this mother:

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Authorities are investigating the death of a 4-year Mission Viejo girl who was killed at home when she climbed into a front-loading washing machine that 15-month-old brother turned on.

Kayley Ishii was taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center about 3 p.m. Monday and died at 8:30 p.m., said Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Her 15-month-old brother either bumped or pushed the button to start the machine.

Amormino said the machine’s controls were only 20 inches from the floor and the start switch was a simple push button. The girl was in the water-filled, tumbling machine for at least two minutes before her mother found her.

An autopsy Tuesday found Kayley died of blunt force trauma and the death was ruled accidental.

The girl’s mother was home at the time, Amormino said.

I know that some might be quick to blame the mother for the child’s death but remember, the little girl was only in the washing machine for about 2 minutes before her mother found her and 2 minutes was all the time that was needed to take the girl’s life. Anyone who has young children should understand how easy it is to lose track of their whereabouts and activities for such a short time.

So how can such tragedies be prevented in the future? It’s not government regulations such as safety locks*.

The only answer as far as I can tell is for parents to be even more attentive and vigilant than they already are. Tragedies like this will still happen but it’s my hope that others will be prevented due to this story.

*Though it may behoove washing machine manufacturers to research and come up with safety features on their own and see how the market responds. After hearing this story you can bet that I would not buy a washing machine with this design.