Mom arrested after girl falls from moving car

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By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Oct 10, 2008 at 1:23 PM EST

Story Updated: Oct 10, 2008 at 1:23 PM EST

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indianapolis police officer saw a 2-year-old girl fall from a moving car, then arrested the girl's mother after rescuing the child from the roadway.

Police say Officer Nicholas Andrews was on the city's west side Thursday evening when he noticed a four-door car going about 30 mph with a rear door open. As he watched, the child fell, bounced and ended up in the middle of the road.

As Andrews scooped up the girl, the mother stopped her car about two blocks away and ran back to her daughter.

Andrews says the girl was upset and crying, but had only minor injuries to her nose and a finger.

The girl's 31-year-old mother was arrested on preliminary charges of neglect and driving without a license.

Monday, Oct 13 at 1:43 PM Momma of 2 wrote ...

I know my 4 year old daughter likes to undo her seatbelt from time to time. It is just how kids are. A nice pull over and spanking usually does the trick though.

Monday, Oct 13 at 12:39 PM mom wrote ...

My son would constantly undo his car seat.It was properly strapped in.I would have to pull over and wrestle with him to get him back in his seat. This was ongoing and frustrating. Finally one day he was out of his seat AGAIN,standing on the floor behind the drivers seat.I made sure no one was behind me I braked enough to cause the car to jerk but not to stop. This startled him and caused him to hit his face on the back of the seat. It didnt hurt him. He never undid his seat again.

Monday, Oct 13 at 11:17 AM Corny...make up your mind wrote ...

You call THIS an "accident", but not the "incident" where the police officer hit a pedestrian. Now I am CORNfused?

Monday, Oct 13 at 11:14 AM J wrote ...

She went two blocks after because she wasnt done with her TEXTING message geees some things are important ya know. Trhow her out at thirty miles an hour see if she pays attention then

Monday, Oct 13 at 10:59 AM Grandma wrote ...

My grandson would undo his seat belt, so one day I took him to the police station and that scared him enough that he didn't do it again. Plus we never went in.

Sunday, Oct 12 at 8:36 PM Anonymous wrote ...

let's not pretend nobody's child has ever found out how to unclip the seatbelt...but in that case it would explain the south bend coorporation low test scores...

Sunday, Oct 12 at 8:32 PM Anonymous wrote ...

actually many kids know how to unclip their seatbelt..and it does not take a genius to open a door either...i wonder what kind of car she had, some old ones may not have the child antilock...

Sunday, Oct 12 at 2:20 PM Anonymous wrote ...

get the kid a decent mother who cares.2 blocks to stop, wouldnt have even taken til the door was open for me to stop. idiots!

Sunday, Oct 12 at 11:22 AM A wrote ...

article is missing some info, easy ?'s 2 have asked, how far was car going while door was open b4 child fell out? if only going 30 it doesnt take 2 blks to stop, no doubt she only did cuz she saw the police! ran, had to make it look good, like she cares for the child! its true some children can get out of their carseats, but a watchful eye would have known b4 the door was opened! and stopped b4 the child getting hurt! also was this an inner city street, a busier strt or hwy?

Sunday, Oct 12 at 9:45 AM Anonymous wrote ...

My daughter learned how to unclip her car seatbelt and would do it at every opportunity, I would have to pull over and strap her back in. People with children who ride in the back of vehicles should always use the child lock mechanism too, better to be safe than sorry.

Sunday, Oct 12 at 1:03 AM bjk100 wrote ...

What?? she had gone 2 blocks before stopping??!! I would have slammed on the brakes if my kid fell out of a car! I had a rule, the car didnt move until everyone was buckeled in and i heard them click! This was outragious!

Sunday, Oct 12 at 12:03 AM Anonymous wrote ...

Some kids are like little Houdinis and can figure out how to get themselves out of their carseats. Of course, I haven't had to put a child in one in over 10 years, so maybe the carseats have improved since then. I'm just glad the little girl is okay.

Sunday, Oct 12 at 12:01 AM Anonymous wrote ...

Not everyone was in the gifted class.

Saturday, Oct 11 at 9:13 PM Darwin wrote ...

this is how we weed them out

Saturday, Oct 11 at 4:23 PM amy wrote ...

im guessing the child was not in a proper car seat...go figure.

Friday, Oct 10 at 9:18 PM Cornfusion wrote ...

I guess this means the child wasn't strapped in properly. That's why we have accidents. This is why we have NEGLECT! I have seen people strap children into car seats they THOUGHT were attached to the cars bench seat but was not. That's a CARELESS accident. If this kid wasn't attached to a car seat when she fell out, mom just threw her in the car or improperly strapped the child in for her to be able to fall out of the car. And in today's society if a cop had not seen it would the mom had stopped

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