The Odessa American
ODESSA, Texas — City of Odessa spokeswoman Andrea Goodson said firefighters looked in the front and back seats of wrecked Jeep Grand Cherokee on Monday but didn’t find the toddler that was still in the vehicle.
The back doors were jammed shut, she said, meaning firefighters could not open them to fully check the back seats. Instead, they peered through the windows and did not see the child.
The vehicle was towed by Unlimited Wrecker Service, which has declined to comment. The wreck was reported at 4 p.m., and the toddler was not discovered until 7 p.m., Goodson said, when an employee with the wrecker company called 911.
Goodson said the child suffered serious injuries and was transported to the hospital. The toddler was not conscious when firefighters arrived to the wrecking yard, Goodson said, but was breathing.
However, Goodson refused to release basic information, including the names of the adult occupants of the Jeep and the name, age and gender of the toddler. Such information is information routinely released by firefighters on the scene of an accident, but that Goodson claimed was protected information.
Goodson also said the no one with the City of Odessa, whether firefighter or dispatch, notified the Texas Department of Public Safety that the toddler was found in the vehicle. The DPS is the lead investigating agency in the wreck.
And while the city has several times noted that the two adult occupants did not tell firefighters the toddler was in the vehicle, Goodson said they are not blaming the occupants who were just in the wreck.
“There’s no blame pointed at anybody right now,” Goodson said.
DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said he was still gathering basic information and would be releasing more later today.
The following is an updated story from CBS 7 News:
New developments in a story you saw first on CBS 7 — family members of a toddler who was left inside a vehicle at the scene of a crash report that the toddler is alive.
According to a Facebook post by the toddler’s aunt, the 3-year-old little girl is in the hospital where her brain is bleeding and “all her right side is paralyzed.” An update from another family hours later states her brain bleeding is “controlled” but that the toddler will still need therapy and is experiencing paralysis on one side of her body.
“She’s doing better, she’s [going] to need therapy and rehab, she’s still not responding to her right side. Brain bleeding was [controlled] and blood clots are work in progress more labs in the morning,” a family member posted.
The toddler was left inside a vehicle after DPS Troopers, the Ector County Sheriff’s Department and Odessa Fire Rescue worked a three vehicle crash at Highway 385 and Loop 338 on Monday. City Spokesperson Andrea Goodson said the three agencies overlooked the toddler on the floor board in the backseat of a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
An employee with Unlimited Wrecker Service found the toddler. The wrecker service is still not making comment Friday morning.
“They found my niece almost four hours later when the wrecker had the car in the lot already. If it wasn’t for my niece that she cried they wouldn’t [have ever] found her,” the aunt wrote.
The aunt sheds light on what she believes led up to the discovery. According to the aunt, officials on scene told her that the driver of the vehicle may have been drunk.
“All he could say was he didn’t remember she was in the car, but cops say he was drunk,” the aunt wrote.
CBS 7 has formally requested a crash report which would outline details like the name of the driver, passengers involved and the possible cause of the crash. It may take up to ten days to receive.
The City of Odessa has launched an internal investigation to see if their own actions were reasonable. You can read more about that investigation in yesterday’s story at this link.
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