Update: Police have contacted the mother of a 1-year-old baby boy who was seen trapped inside a washing machine on a viral YouTube video.
The video was uploaded to YouTube where it garnered millions of hits.
The mother, Sakia David, 24, told NBC10 she left her son, Saimeir Bush, in the care of a babysitter earlier this month.
The babysitter, along with an acquaintance whom Sakia says she did not know, took Saimeir to the Federal Laundromat in Camden a couple of weeks ago.
Sakia told NBC10 had no idea what had happened to her son until she saw the video footage on the evening news. Sakia said she asked the babysitter about the incident but the babysitter denied that was Saimeir in the video.
Sakia said she believes the incident was an accident and that the unidentified male was playing with her son when he put Saimeir in the washer.
All the same, Sakia says she won’t use the unidentified baby sitter again.
“Nobody should ever put a child in a washing machine,” said Saimeir’s grandmother Doreen Bey.
The Prosecutor’s Office told NBC10 they have spoken with the babysitter and her male acquaintance but no one will be charged.
This post was originally written May 23, 2012 @ 12:04 p.m.
Authorities are asking the public to assist them in finding the man and the child’s mother who stood by and watched as he placed the toddler inside the machine.
Police say there appears to be no criminal intent, but they notified child protective services of the case.
The video shows the child, about age 2, peering inside a washer as his parents load clothes into another washer nearby.
The man picked up the boy and placed him inside the machine. He then closed the door, then watched in horror as the door locked and the machine turned on automatically.
The parents, who appear to be foreign, are seen tugging at the door frantically as the child spins inside the machine.
As the parents’ terror intensifies, a woman walks over with her kids holding a white towel. A maintenance man approaches and then walks away, doing nothing to help the frightened parents.
Another quick thinking employee unplugged the machine and pulled the child to safety. After the parents determined the child was uninjured, they fled the laundromat.
“I was scared the kid would die,” the hero employee told FOX 29 TV affiliate. “When I pulled him out and saw he was alive, I was very happy.”
The baby was likely psychologically traumatized, and he will probably have an intense fear of washing machines for the rest of his life.
