Baby Killed While Children Play in Parked Car
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LENOIR, NC — A Lenoir neighborhood is warning parents after a tragic car accident killed nine-month-old Zeke Smith.
“We heard screaming, awful screaming from children,” said Teresa Hatley. “We heard sirens coming, and we come running down and heard one of the kids got run over, one of the kids got run over.”
Hatley’s neighbor’s baby was trapped under a car.
“I couldn’t do nothing but cry,” said Hatley. “It broke my heart to see him laying there. I knew he was gone.”
Witnesses say the baby’s mother had just walked into her friend’s home before 7:30 Tuesday night. Zeke was strapped in his car seat, sitting in the yard. Two neighborhood girls, six and eight years old, were playing in a car.
Police say they knocked the car into gear, and it rolled on top of the baby.
“He was a sweet little angel,” said Ashley Robbins. “He got taken away too soon, but I know God had plans for him.”
Robbins’ husband tried to lift the car off the baby until paramedics arrived, but it was too late.
Close friends gathered donations for funeral costs Wednesday. The child’s mother and siblings were too shaken to return to the accident scene.
“I couldn’t even start to think what they feel,” said Hatley.
She wants other parents to learn from their tragedy.
“All it takes is just a split second to lose that child,” said Hatley. “Keep an eye on them. Don’t let them in the car to play.”
